Mohammed Haruna Yusuf
24 December 2008
The climate change phenomenon occasioned by incessant gas flaring which emits dangerous toxins and threatens existence continues in Nigeria because of the insensitivity of the oil companies and lack of political will on the part of the government to put a stop to it, an environmentalist has said.
A communiqué signed by the chair, Friends of the Earth International, Reverend Nnimmo Bassey, said that the absence of a definitive constitutional regime on environmental issues to make them justifiable impairs serious moves towards environmental reforms.
According to him: "This is evidenced by the continuous shifting of the gas flare-out date and the failure of oil companies and the government to abide by the Federal Court judgment delivered by Justice Nwokorie, on the 14th November, 2005 in Benin City, Edo State to the effect that gas flaring is illegal in Nigeria".
He acknowledged that extractive activities have led to the destruction of the local environment; as a result, the poor are being forced to bear a disproportionate share of the negative impacts of the destruction of the environment.
"The only way out of our mounting poverty and for guaranteeing future development lies in having a sustainable environment", it stated.
He stated further that environmental problems are not only interrelated but are also a result of international oil diplomacy, adding that the entire framework for regulating and acting on oil problems in Nigeria is related to and derives from international interests in Nigeria's oil.
Bassey noted that in a bid to sustain both the earth and humanity, government should stop further operations aimed at discovering and exploiting new oil and gas fields, saying that oil operations are harmful and constitute a threat to the environment and continued human existence.
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Right. Environmental degradation is a problem, largely caused by the extraction of oil and gas from the ground and sea. So, the entities profiting from the extraction should be held responsible. And, since those entities are all 65%-owned by the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the NNPC, the Federal Government of Nigeria should be held responsible. Otherwise, sell off the majority stakes in those extracting companies to foreigners, obtaining guarantees from them that environmental damage will be minimised, with oversight by the United Nations or World Bank.