Petroleum extraction in the Niger Delta has led to many environmental issues. The delta covers within wetlands, formed primarily by sediment deposition. Home to 20 million people and 40 different ethnic groups, this floodplain makes up 7.5% of Nigeria's total land mass,P.C. Nwilo & O. T. Badejo: Impacts of Oil spills along the Nigerian coast The Association for Environmental Health and Sciences, 2001 and is Africa's largest wetland. The Delta's environment can be broken down into four ecological zones: coastal barrier islands, mangrove swamp forests, freshwater swamps, and lowland rainforests. Fishing and farming are the main sources of livelihoods for the majority of its residents.
The delta is well endowed with natural resources and the surrounding ecosystem contains one of the highest concentrations of biodiversity on the planet. In addition to supporting abundant flora and fauna, arable terrain that can sustain a wide variety of crops, lumber or agricultural trees, and more species of freshwater fish than any ecosystem in West Africa.
Unprecedented oil spillage, ongoing for the past five decades, has made the region one of the most polluted in the world. The heavy contamination of the air, ground and water with toxic pollutants is often used as an example of ecocide. It is estimated that while the European Union experienced 10 incidences of oil spills in 40 years, Nigeria recorded 9,343 cases within 10 years.Albert, Amaratunga, Haigh (Nov 29,2017) "Evaluation of the Impacts of oil spill Disaster on communities and its influence on Restiveness in Niger Delta, Nigeria."
Environmental degradation from gas flaring, dredging of larger rivers, oil spillage and reclamation of land due to oil and gas extraction across the Niger Delta region costs about US$758 million every year.Ayanlade, Proske (August 31, 2015)."Assessing wetland degradation and loss of ecosystem services in the Niger Delta, Nigeria." 75% of the cost is borne by the local communities through polluted water, infertile farmland and lost biodiversity.Ayanalde, Proske (August 31, 2015). "Assessing wetland degradation and loss of ecosystem services in the Niger Delta, Nigeria." The region could experience a loss of 40% of its habitable terrain in the next thirty years as a result of extensive dam construction in the region.
Oil spills
Extent of the problem The Department of Petroleum Resources estimated that 1.89 million barrels of petroleum were spilled into the Niger Delta between 1976 and 1996 out of a total of 2.4 million barrels that spilled in 4,835 incidents (approximately 220 thousand cubic metres). A United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report states that there have been a total of 6,817 oil spills between 1976 and 2001, which account for a loss of three million barrels of oil, of which more than 70% were not recovered. 69% of these spills occurred off-shore, a quarter was in swamps and 6% spilled on land. Bronwen Manby, then researcher in the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch, documented in July 1997 that "according to the official estimates of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)... approximately of oil are spilled in 300 separate incidents annually. It can be safely assumed that, due to under-reporting, the real figure is substantially higher: conservative estimates place it at up to ten times higher."
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation places the quantity of petroleum jettisoned into the environment yearly at with an average of 300 individual spills annually. However, because this amount does not take into account "minor" spills, the World Bank argues that the true quantity of petroleum spilled into the environment could be up to ten times greater.Perception and Reality: Assessing Priorities for Sustainable Development in the Niger River Delta (Moffat and Linden) The largest individual spills include the blowout of a Texaco offshore station which in 1980 dumped an estimation amounting to sabotage of crude oil into the Gulf of Guinea and Royal Dutch Shell's Forcados terminal tank failure which produced a spillage estimated at . In 2010 Baird reported that between nine million and 13 million barrels have been spilled in the Niger Delta since 1958. One source even calculates that the total amount of petroleum in barrels spilled between 1960 and 1997 is upwards of . A United Nations report for 2011 documented that the environment of the Niger Delta was so polluted that it could take 25 to 30 years to reverse the associated sustainability consequences of the pollution.
A catastrophic spill occurred on May 1, 2010 at an ExxonMobil offshore oil platform approximately from shore. The rupture spewed more than of crude into the Delta. Because the spill occurred just 10 days after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, people affected by repeated spills in the Niger Delta noted "massive differences" in international response to these disasters and relative lack of media coverage for such events in Nigeria.The Guardian, 29 May 2010 "Nigeria's agony dwarfs the Gulf oil spill. The US and Europe ignore it,"
Causes
Most of the oil infrastructure is old and lacks regular inspection or maintenance. Half of all spills occur due to pipeline and tanker corrosion and accidents (50%), other causes include sabotage (28%) and oil production operations (21%), with 1% of the spills being accounted for by inadequate or non-functional production equipment.
A reason that corrosion accounts for such a high percentage of all spills is that as a result of the small size of the oilfields in the Niger Delta, there is an extensive network of pipelines between the fields, as well as numerous small networks of flowlines—the narrow diameter pipes that carry oil from wellheads to flowstations—allowing many opportunities for leaks. In onshore areas most pipelines and flowlines are laid above ground. Pipelines, which have an estimate life span of about fifteen years, are old and susceptible to corrosion. Many of the pipelines are as old as twenty to twenty-five years.
Shell admits that "most of the facilities were constructed between the 1960s and early 1980s to the then prevailing standards. SPDC [Shell Petroleum and Development Company] would not build them that way today.”Shell International Petroleum Company, Developments in Nigeria (London: March 1995) Sabotage is performed primarily through what is known as "bunkering", whereby the saboteur attempts to tap the pipeline. In the process of extraction sometimes the pipeline is damaged or destroyed. Oil extracted in this manner can often be sold.
Sabotage and theft through oil siphoning has become a major issue in the Niger River Delta states as well, contributing to further environmental degradation.Anderson, I: Niger River basin: A Vision for Sustainable Development Pp. 1–131 The World Bank, 2005 Damaged lines may go unnoticed for days, and repair of the damaged pipes takes even longer. Oil siphoning has become a big business, with the stolen oil quickly making its way onto the black market, referred to as "Nigerian Swag".Bronwen Manby: The Price of Oil Human Rights Watch. 1999.
While the popularity of selling stolen oil increases, the number of deaths caused by explosion increase as well. In late December 2006 more than 200 people were killed in the Lagos region of Nigeria in an oil line explosion.Bogumil Terminski, Oil-Induced Displacement and Resettlement: Social Problem and Human Rights Issue, http://www.conflictrecovery.org/bin/Bogumil_Terminski-Oil-Induced_Displacement_and_Resettlement_Social_Problem_and_Human_Rights_Issue.pdf Pipeline explosion kills at least 200 CNN, 2006
Nigerian regulations of the oil industry are weak and rarely enforced, allowing in essence, the industry to self-regulate.
Consequences
Oil spillage has a major impact on the ecosystem into which it is released and may constitute ecocide. Immense tracts of the mangrove forests, which are especially susceptible to oil (mainly because it is stored in the soil and re-released annually during inundations), have been destroyed. An estimated 5 to 10% of Nigerian mangrove ecosystems have been wiped out either by settlement or oil. The rainforest which previously occupied some of land has disappeared as well. Spills in populated areas often spread out over a wide area, destroying crops and aquacultures through contamination of the groundwater and soils. The consumption of dissolved oxygen by bacteria feeding on the spilled hydrocarbons also contributes to the death of fish. In agricultural communities, often a year's supply of food can be destroyed instantaneously. The Niger River has been invaded by water hyacinth, which thrives in polluted environments but clogs waterways and competes with native plants.
People in the affected areas complain about health issues including breathing problems and skin lesions; many have lost basic human rights such as health, access to food, clean water, and an ability to work."Standing Up To Big Oil" Making Contact, produced by National Radio Project. December 14, 2010.
On 30 January 2013 a Dutch court ruled that Shell is liable for the pollution in the Niger Delta. In January 2015, Shell agreed to pay $80 million to the Ogoniland community of Bodo for two oil spills in 2008 after a court case in London.
Cleanup In 2011, Nigeria commissioned a report from the United Nations on the impact of oil extraction in the delta area of 'Ogoniland'. The report found severe soil ground and tapwater contamination, destruction of mangroves, and "that institutional control measures in place both in the oil industry and the government were not implemented adequately." The UN concluded it would take over 30 years to reverse the damage. Based on those recommendations, in August 2017 Nigeria launched a $1 billion clean-up and restoration program. In January 2019 engineers first arrived to begin the clean-up.
In 2019, the Nigerian government came under scrutiny when a memo from President Muhammadu Buhari's office directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to take over the Ogoniland oil wells from Shell "and ensure smooth re-entry." NGOs and the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People have protested the proposed action.
The federal government of Nigeria through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation disbursed the sum of $180m as the take off fee for the 21 selected companies out of the 400 companies that bid for the contract.
Loss of mangrove forests
Vegetation in the Niger River Delta consists of extensive mangrove forests, brackish swamp forests, and rainforests. The large expanses of mangrove forests are estimated to cover approximately of land.Nwilo, Peter C., and Olusegun T. Badejo: Impacts And Management of Oil Spill Pollution Along the Nigerian Coastal Areas International Federation of Surveyors, 2007. Retrieved May 20, 2007. Mangroves remain very important to the indigenous people of Nigeria as well as to the various organisms that inhabit these ecosystems.
Human impact from poor land management upstream coupled with the constant pollution of petroleum has caused 5–10% of these mangrove forests to disappear. The volatile, quickly penetrating, and viscous properties of petroleum have wiped out large areas of vegetation. When spills occur close to and within the drainage basin, the hydrologic force of both the river and tides force spilled petroleum to move up into areas of vegetation.