Tag Archives: Niger Delta

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has urged the Federal Government to be wary of a World Bank initiative to stop gas flaring by the year 2030, insisting that the scheme, if endorsed by the government, will legitimise continued flaring by Shell and other oil corporations operating in the Niger Delta. Media reports last week indicated that ...

Another 150 youths from the Niger Delta are to benefit from the 2015 LiveWIRE programme of the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) operated Joint Venture, bringing the total number of beneficiaries to over 6,000 since the launch of the programme in 2003. LiveWIRE is a flagship youth enterprise development programme which provides access to training, business development services ...

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has hailed the Federal Government for approving a $10 million take-off grant for the implementation of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) Assessment on Ogoniland and reconstituting the Governing Council of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP), saying both moves indicated the current administration is on the right path in tackling ...

Political undertones have trailed President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent move to fast-track the clean-up of Ogoniland in accordance with the report and recommendations of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). While officials of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) seem to be ‘milking’ the situation by heaping praises on Mr President while tacitly condemning the outgone President Goodluck Jonathan, the Peoples’ ...

A barrage of applause has greeted President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to clean-up the extensively polluted Ogoniland in the Niger Delta region by implementing the much-vaunted report on the community prepared by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). But the voices of commendation are being cautious, saying that certain things don’t seem right and that they should be urgently addressed before ...

A report by the All Progressives Congress (APC) asking the Muhammadu Buhari administration to discard the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) is not only unfortunate but is one that will also embolden oil multinationals to continue their impunity which has polluted the Niger Delta and eroded Nigeria’s revenues, the Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has warned. The ...

To fly into the Niger Delta is to marvel at seemingly endless trees. Africa’s moist equatorial forest stretches from Congo to Gabon. Much is still pristine in Nigeria, the canopy closed. However, vast swathes have been despoiled by oil seepage and flaring. Joblessness and insecurity abound. “The young boys are punching holes in the oil pipelines,” exclaims Father Kevin O’Hara, ...

In the spirit of the third year anniversary of the release of the report on Ogoniland by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Nnimmo Bassey, who heads the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), reflects at a recent forum on the travails of the community, scarred by decades of land and sea degradation as a result of oil and gas ...

About this time last year this writer had the tough job of settling a dispute between two friends. One is a Nigerian from the Niger Delta and the other a South Africa from the Witbank area. Their argument was over which was the most polluted place in Africa. Was it the oil fields of the Niger Delta or the coalmine ...

Oloibiri is a small community in Ogbia Local Government Area in Bayelsa State, in the eastern Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Oloibiri is a historic town to the oil and gas industry as the first commercial oil discovery was made there (at Otuabagi/Otuogadi) by Shell Darcy on Sunday, January 15th, 1956 after about 50 years of exploration. Indeed, Oloibiri has many firsts to its credit in the ...