Effect of oil spillage on Niger delta Nigeria, an environmental incidence of public health important.
Introduction:
Niger delta Nigeria is about 70,000 square Kilometers in the southern part of Nigeria, through which
river Niger and river Benue empty into the Atlantic Ocean. The region forms 7.5% of Nigeria’s total land
mass, it is inhabited by at least 25 million people in nine states and 186 Local Government Area. It
consists of 40 ethnic groups and speak an estimate 250 dialects (Uzoekwe and Achudume.; 2011).
Oil was first discovered in large quantities in Niger delta region in 1956 at Oloibiri, in the present day
Bayelsa state. Other discoveries followed and exports began in 1958, with the completion of a terminal
on Bonny Island, in rivers state, and pipelines to feed the terminal. In 2004, Nigeria exported an average
of 2.5 million barrels of crude oil every day and oil reserve conservatively put at 35 billion barrels, this
may continue for at least the next 40 years (Nkwoocha and Duru.; 2010).
Oil exploration and exploitation is very lucrative, and a major source of income in Nigeria. But, like most
industrial activities, it produces environmental hazards that are slow “poisons,” in that they often take
months and years to cause disease and death. This is unlike the contamination of water, food, and the
environment with micros-organisms, which immediately results in ill health. The covert and slow action
of the hazards caused by oil exploration and exploitation make it difficult to fully appreciate their
contribution to the disease burden in Nigeria, especially in the oil-bearing communities, even with the
emergence of non-communicable disease as major causes of ill in Nigeria (Ordinioha and Brisibe.; 2013).
Oil spillage is a common fallout of oil exploration and exploitation in Niger delta region, with an
estimated total of over 7000 oil spill incidents reported over a 50-year period, a yearly average of about
240,000 barrels thereby causing environmental degradation. The oil spills affected at least 1500
communities in the eight-crude oil producing states in Nigeria and were majorly from the 5284 oil wells
that were drilled (as at 2006) and the 7000 km of crud oil pipeline that crisscrosses the Niger delta
region (Ordinioha and Brisibe.; 2013). Oil spillage is a worse form of environmental pollution which
poses great threat to man, the ecosystem, and the environment. It is serious issue because the impact of
human being and it environs are felt on long-term, recurrent basis, making it difficult to arrive at an
exact impact assessment as the incident occurs (Osuji, 2004). Oil spillage which is the uncontrolled
discharge of oil or its by-products including chemicals and wastes occurs due equipment failure,
operation error or willfull damage, corrosion of oil pipes and tanks, sabotage, port operations and
inadequate care in oil production operations and engineering drills (Akpofure et al., 2000).
Consequences of the oil spillage to the environment and the population includes the demage to the
fragile mangrove forest, destruction of the livelihood of the 25 million people living there, reducing the
fertility of the soil, increasing cost of living, increasing poverty, poor health status, reduced life
expectancy, which is estimated at 41 years in the region, fueling the upsurge of violence and threatening
of rare species including primates, fish, turtles, and birds (Onojake, 2004). This oil spillage has resulted
to increase in neonatal mortality rate by 38.3 deaths per 1,000 live births according to study by
Bruederle and Hodler, 2019 on the topic ‘effect of oil spills on infant mortality in Nigeria.
Discussion:
In 1960 little attention was given to effect of oil spillage across the globe. But some incidence triggers
international attention to effect of oil spillage and it includes Torrey Canyon wreck of 1967 (off the coast
of England), the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill of the coast of Alaska and the 1991 massive of crude oil during
the Gulf war. This incidence has led to more research on solution to environmental pollution such as Oil
Pollution Act of 1990 and development in the field of environmental toxicology (Raimi et al., 2017). The
field of environmental toxicology is an element of environmental science and environmental studies,
which covers several aspects like protection of soil, water, fisheries and wildlife management,
ecosystem conservation (Nimisingha et al., 2021).
Management of oil spillage in Niger delta Nigeria has been through payment of payment of
compensation to spill affected communities as a means of enforcing environmental regulation laws.
Many laws and policies have been taken in managing oil spill incidents at both international and national
levels (Peter and Olusegun., 2005). Some of the laws are as follows:
i) Oil Pollution Act (OPA) of 1990
The oil pollution Act of 1990 is responsible for providing guidance for government and industry on oil
spill prevention, mitigation, cleanup, and liability. It was targeted to reduce the number of spills in
affected communities. The act also ensure sufficient financial resources are made available to clean up a
spill and to compensate persons damaged by a spill. OPA mandates tankers and inland oil facilities to
develop individual response plan on oil spill management of the affected communities (Peter and
Olusegun., 2005).
ii) National oil spill detection and response (NOSDRA)
Nigeria Federal Executive Council established National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency and its
aim is to intensify effort on enforcement of oil and gas regulation and standards. It ensures that oil
company uses environmentally friendly drilling fluid and mud system (Peter and Olusegun., 2005).
iii) Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC)
To minimize the incident of oil spillage in Niger delta region because of sabotage and vandalization, the
Nigeria government establish a commission in year 2000 called Niger Delta Development commission.
The commission is saddles with the following responsible prepare plans and schemes to promotes
physical development of the region, identify factors inhibiting development in the region and assist
member state in formation and implementation of policies that will ensure efficient management of
resources within the region, tackle ecological and environmental issue that emanate from oil exploration
in the region and finally to liaise with various oil producing companies on issue of environmental
pollution prevention and control measures (Peter and Olusegun., 2005).
iv) Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) decree No 86 of 1992
This decree No 86 of 1992 was made to protect and sustain the ecosystem of the region against oil
spillage pollution. The decree made it compulsory for any major project in the region to carry out an
environmental Impact assessment to find out the likelihood of any environmental impact of the
activities to the region whether the impact will be direct or indirect, short, or long impact on the host
communities and identify available measure to mitigate it (Peter and Olusegun., 2005).
v). Federal and state agencies
Several federal and state agencies deal with the situation of oil spillage in the Niger delta regionand the
agencies include Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Federal of Environment, State Ministry of
Environment, and the National Maritime Authority. The above mentioned agencies help to ensure that
oil spillage in the region is reduce drastically.
