Published 19th Apr, 2022

By Abdullah Tijani

Before Shell, a multinational oil and gas company, passed its pipelines through Odimodi, a community in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta state, its residents were once proud fishermen, who made huge fortunes from their profession.

Presently, this is no longer the case as spills from oil exploration activities around the community’s river have driven its aquatic inhabitants into near extinction, threatening the sustainability of the fishermen’s livelihood.

In February, the villagers abandoned the river and sunk their fishing nets inside the drainages in front of their houses. They claimed fishes and other aquatic animals had swum up the gutters in search of fresh water, after the oil-polluted river could no longer provide a habitable environment for them.

In the end, their claims where indeed true.

Moments later, and beaming with smiles, most of them went home with buckets full of fishes and crustaceans of all kinds.

After a while, this memorable event led to the end of the fish market industry that once thrived in the area.

THE OIL-POLUTED NIGER-DELTA

Odimodi is one of the communities in the Niger Delta that host multinational oil corporations. However, as an aftermath of the union, oil spill incidences have continued to impact the lives of the inhabitants of the community negatively.

According to Toxic Tours, a community-led mapping experience on the impacts of plastic production, the residents are now exposed to greater risks by venturing far into the sea for fishing.

“Fishing, periwinkle gathering and basket weaving are essential for the livelihoods of the villagers, but the waterways remain polluted and the local ecosystem has been destroyed,” the report reads in part.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) revealed that when oil pollutes water, some of its components are degraded and dispersed by evaporation. Meanwhile, other components that persist and do not degrade alter the ecology of aquatic habitats in the process.

UNCLEANED OIL SPILLS

The discovery of oil products in the Niger Delta region has caused more distress to the area than its affected indigenes could imagine.

In a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) report, a total of 6,817 oil spills, which account for a loss of three million barrels of oil, were recorded between 1976 and 2001. The report also stated that more than 70% of the spills were never recovered. These figures were corroborated by the estimation made by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), that about 1.89 million barrels of petroleum were spilled into the Niger Delta waters during the said period.

THE CLEAN-UP

After documenting the impact of the oil industry in Ogoniland, an area of Niger Delta, in 2011, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) recommended an urgent clean-up of the community affected by oil spills.

Then, in 2016, while acting on the recommendation of the UNEP, the Federal Government launched a billion-dollar project to clean up the oil spills.

But a recent joint investigation carried out by Amnesty International, Friends of the Earth Europe and Environmental Rights Action, revealed that the project has been ineffective.

“Nearly ten years after a clean-up was urged for areas polluted by Shell and other oil companies in the Niger Delta, work has begun on only 11% of planned sites while vast areas remain heavily contaminated,” the report reads in part.

In an interview with Toxic Tour, Endurance Lapa, one of the fishermen, said before the arrival of Shell, the villagers were able to survive from what they killed in the rivers. But, that has changed now and all they want is for those who had polluted their rivers “to return it to its original state.”

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