How oil pollution eroded fishing activities in Niger Delta

Report

11th May, 2023

It is a fact that the main occupation of the dwellers of the river bank of the Niger Delta is fishing and that of the upland dwellers is farming. The fishermen in Niger Delta cover all the shores of the nine Niger Delta states. These include Rivers, Bayelsa, Cross River, Akwa-Ibom, Delta, Edo, Ondo, Imo and others.

Fishing activity was very lucrative in the days before the discovery of oil in commercial quantities in the Niger Delta region, and even in the early days of oil discovery in the region.

Fishermen and women were building houses and raising money for their children’s school fees. With the proceeds of fishing, they train children at the best universities at home and abroad in such good times. Men married 2 to 10 wives to help them have many fishing boats, each wife was given a fishing net and canoe. At the end of the fishing season, all the wives will give an account to their husbands. Each wive will divide the proceeds into 3 parts and two parts will be given to the husband and there was no complaint. Children were well fed and life was easy and good.

But the story drastically changed with the advent of oil activities in the Niger Delta region. The environment was seriously polluted by oil companies’ operations. The frequent pollution emanated from Oil exploitation and exploration activities. Oil spills, leakages from eroded pipelines, discharging of dangerous chemicals used for the oil exploration activities on the river, wreck of oil vessels and bunkering activities.

The Shell Petroleum Development Corporation (SPDC), Agip, Chevron and others do not care about the protection of the Niger Delta environment. These oil giants were only after their business interests. But it was not so in the international environment. But they turn Africa, Nigeria inclusive as a dumping ground. Concerted efforts were made to stop the inimical actions of the oil companies but to no avail. Niger Delta stakeholders went into litigations with these companies, the companies employed the divide and rule tactics. They corrupt judges with much money and turn cases against the aborigines of the region.

The oil companies were responsible for the pollution in the Niger Delta region. This pollution is gradually depleting the ozone layer as well as destroying the aquatic environment in the Niger Delta. This was coupled with the recent adventure of local refinery operations. The local method of refining crude in the Niger Delta created serious barriers to our already endangered environment. Almost all the processes of local refining cause serious pollution to the environment. The loading process which is the point of the collection of the crude from government pipelines, is done with local wooden boats, and several products were wasted on the river in t the process. During moving the boat to the point of refining, much of the product spills over to the river. Also at the point of discharging, much product spills into the river. Some may be intercepted and burnt, causing a hell of pollution in the entire ecosystem. The refining wastes, all are dumped in the river and the powering of the process is done by using firewood that equally pollutes the environment.

This was like a double jeopardy for the environment. All these were the reasons fishing activities became completely low in the Niger Niger region in Nigeria. The river is currently barren, most species of fish died as a result of this pollution and others disappeared from the polluted environment for survival. As we speak, the Niger Delta environment is no longer suitable for fishing activities for the fact that the environment is no longer conducive for the fish species to dwell. Several reports including an earlier report by congressng.com stated that it will take Niger Delta up to 40 to 50 years to restore the sanctity of the region’s environment if the pollution is stopped now. Comrade Ozobo Austin, Niger Delta activist and environmentalist who was interrogated also agreed to this position.

Report by Congress newspaper, NigerDelta Focus.