Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — Oilwatch International has inspected oil polluted sites in Ogoniland while demanding for real zero oil and gas exploration in Nigeria and around the world, and the need for every country to urgently switch to renewable energy, amidst climate change.
The international nongovernmental organization, with members across Africa, America and Europe at a three-day Oilwatch Global Gathering in Port Harcourt with the theme, Demanding Real Zero Not Net-zero’, advocated that crude oil and gas should be left alone in the ground.
Speaking, a member of the Steering Committee of Oilwatch International, Dr Nnimmo Bassey, lamented the destruction of biodiversity in the Niger Delta while calling on the Federal Government to immediately stop the expansion of fossil fuel extraction.
Bassey who is also Executive Director of Health of Mother Earth Foundation, HOMEF, explained that oil exploration has never made any country rich, regretting that despite decades of oil exploration in Nigeria, the country remains impoverished.
Bassey said net-zero carbon emissions are like a subversion of nature, arguing that the world needs to stop using fossil fuels.
“Government and corporations are talking about achieving net-zero carbon emissions, which means, ‘keep emitting the carbon, then you find ways of either capturing the carbon and burning it somewhere or planting some trees to absorb the carbon’. That is what net-zero means.
“It is as if people are trying to solve global warming by mathematics. But nature does not work that way. The world and Nigeria need to stop the use of fossil fuels. And in fact, nobody or country should go on looking for new oil, gas, or fuel reserves.
“Scientists have told us that we cannot afford to burn all the known reserves of fossil fuel right now. If not, the world is going to have a temperature that human beings can’t survive on.
“The real solution is not net-zero, but not continuing to burn fossil fuel. That is the solution, and we have been saying this for many years. Leave the oil in the ground, if we are going to have the possibility of surviving as humans in the world.”
Members of Oilwatch International while inspecting oil impacted sites in Ogoniland, Bassey demanded that immediate attention should be given to Goi community, who have been displaced by oil pollution since 2005.
“Even if you clean up the entire Niger delta in five years, it will take about three lifetimes to have the environment restored back to normal.
“Goi has been neglected. The communiyy does not have any oil installation but because of the topography of the terrain such that pollution in one community affects other communities, today Goi is almost going extinct as pollution and fire outbreaks from oil pollution have displaced the community.
“Unfortunately, UNEP did not capture Goi whereas this is where the clean-up should have started. Goi community needs urgent attention, whether the community was captured by UNEP or not. The govenrment shouldn’t wait any further by shutting its eyes on this community.”
Also speaking, a member of Oilwatch International from Senegal, Dr. Fatima Diallo, said the environmental issues in Nigeria and other countries she has visited was scary, while cautioning her country to be wary of climate change, environmental issues as Senegal joins the league of oil producing countries.
“It’s a huge level of anxiety. There are a lot of signs that what communities in the Niger Delta and other African countries are suffering due to oil exploration will also happen in Senegal.
“The impact of oil on the communities is terrible and this is obtainable in all parts of Africa where there is extractive or mining activities. Human rights are abused and the host communities are in extreme poverty.”
