Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — A political artist, Mr. Darren Cullen, has charged the Global North to pay attention to the ecological mess which their oil companies and subsidiaries were creating in the Global South, particularly in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
Cullen cautioned that oil companies like Shell who were already divesting from onshore Nigeria, should not be allowed to go Scot-free until they have cleaned up the ecological damages which they have caused in the Niger Delta.
Speaking after visiting oil polluted sites in Ogoni area of Rivers State, as part of activities marking the recently held Niger Delta Climate Change Conference, the satirical artist said the ecological damages in the Niger Delta was heart breaking.
Cullen, also known as Spelling Mistakes Cost Lives, disclosed that he specifically came to Nigeria to witness the ecological devastation caused by Shell and other oil companies in the Niger Delta.
He said, “Seeing the ecological devastation in the Niger Delta caused by Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil and other oil companies is heart breaking. I am not only sad to see this, I am angry on behalf of the Niger Delta people. It’s good that the oil companies are divesting, but leaving the mess behind is infuriating. They have to pay for what they’ve done here.
“The oil pollution is in the land, the water and even in the air. How do people cope here drinking contaminated water? We must hold Shell accountable for the contamination in the Niger Delta region. They (oil companies) shouldn’t just be allowed to walk away Scot free and leave the people in their mess.
“As an artist, I’ll be making more artwork campaigning for people of the Niger Delta and Ogoniland specifically.
“We in the Global North needs to listen to the people living in the mess which our companies are creating here. We need the voices of the Niger Delta and Ogoniland to be heard at COP 28. We have heard so much from oil executives and politicians in the West about broken promises of them dealing with climate change. It’s time to act.”
For his part, the Executive Director of Lekeh Foundation, Mr. Friday Barilule Nbani, advocated for a transition into renewables and for crude oil to be left in the ground, since it was not benefiting the ordinary people of Nigeria.
“Enough is enough. They should leave our oil in the soil; we want oil extraction to be stopped in the Niger Delta because there is no benefit.
“Secondly, the world is moving to cleaner energy and it’s harmless. If other countries are adopting renewables, Nigeria also can do it. We have the potentials. Due to the devastated environment, the oil companies too need to pay for climate debt, as part of loss and damage funds.”
Also, the Coordinator of Yeraba Women Foundation, Ms. Erabanabari Theophilus, lamented that women were the most affected when it comes to pollution, climate change and other ecological challenges.
Theophilus said her group will continue to build the capacity of women to influence policies, and to encourage women not to accept defeat, when their environments were already damaged by oil companies.
“Women are the most affected in any community with oil spills. Shell is no longer operating in Ogoni but the damages are still here; so we are saying that Shell should give us back our environment. If you cannot leave it better, at least leave it the way it was before you came.”
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