Big Oil, Poisoned Water, And Nigeria
March 31, 2011 •
The Niger Delta is one of the most important ecosystems in the world and is home to some 31 million people. Yet it is being poisoned.
Oil is killing the fish, polluting the water, and endangering the people who make the Niger Delta their home.
Oil companies spill more oil into the Niger Delta each year than was spilled as a result of the Deepwater Horizon disaster that devastated the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.
A major source of oil pollution is the practice of gas flaring, or the burning off excess gas as waste. The government of Nigeria and multinational oil companies active in the Niger Delta, including Shell, ENI, Total and Chevron, are jointly responsible for gas flaring in the region. But for half a century, the Nigerian government has demonstrated that it can’t or won’t hold oil companies accountable.
As of today, critical questions that residents have raised about the associated health and environmental risks of gas flaring have not been answered. With our new Eyes on Nigeria project’s satellite imaging and mapping technology, we aim to not only validate residents’ concerns, but to expose serious human rights abuses.
Amnesty teams and partners have collected more than 10 years worth of evidence that shows gas flaring is happening dangerously close to the waters where people drink, bathe, fish and wash their clothes.
When Amnesty representatives meet with the Nigerian government and oil executives this summer, we’ll share these facts and push for the answers that have been delayed for so long. Above all, we’ll call on officials to set a solid deadline for ending gas flaring once and for all.
Cleaning up the Niger Delta and stopping gas flaring is a small, but necessary step toward ensuring that basic human rights to health, food, clean water and livelihood in the Niger Delta are protected.
Make sure companies won’t be able to dodge accountability anymore.Sign our petition calling on oil companies to end gas flaring.
I hope this is not another craze to destabilize the fragile peace building effort our gov't is putting in place in this region. We the youths of the region will resist any of this attempt. I suggest Amnesty Int'l should think of how to consolidate the effort of the gov't. Be warned. can contact me if u like.
If ur intent was geniune. why must it be at this election period (2days to election) u decide to launch this. Pls nobody should take this ppl serious. When the next gov't is sworn in, u can take ur case to the assembly. We sall not fight our self again.
I have empathy and sensitivity for the complexity of the political situation, but AI sharing a petition with leaders is hardly "destabilizing the fragile peace process" as far as I can tell.
@ Aaron Femie: I'm Nigerian and you don't speak for me. Stop being an apologist for oil companies and corrupt Nigerian leadership. Do you even understand what a petition is?
I hope this is not another craze to destabilize the fragile peace building effort our gov’t is putting in place in this region. We the youths of the region will resist any of this attempt. I suggest Amnesty Int’l should think of how to consolidate the effort of the gov’t. Be warned. can contact me if u like.
If ur intent was geniune. why must it be at this election period (2days to election) u decide to launch this. Pls nobody should take this ppl serious. When the next gov’t is sworn in, u can take ur case to the assembly. We sall not fight our self again.
I have empathy and sensitivity for the complexity of the political situation, but AI sharing a petition with leaders is hardly “destabilizing the fragile peace process” as far as I can tell.
@ Aaron Femie: I’m Nigerian and you don’t speak for me. Stop being an apologist for oil companies and corrupt Nigerian leadership. Do you even understand what a petition is?
What I wonder is why this kind of stuff isn't in the news. It is big. Why dosen't western news write about this kind of eco disaster.
Sorry, Ofunne. I can tell u are not from my Region (Niger Delta) so you wouldnt know what we have suffered from the oil crisis. What i am emphasizing is the timing of this so called petition. It can come latter on maybe after the election.
What I wonder is why this kind of stuff isn’t in the news. It is big. Why dosen’t western news write about this kind of eco disaster.
Sorry, Ofunne. I can tell u are not from my Region (Niger Delta) so you wouldnt know what we have suffered from the oil crisis. What i am emphasizing is the timing of this so called petition. It can come latter on maybe after the election.
Aaron Femie,
I am from the Niger Delta. Those are my villages and my people that are being sabotaged by that filth…from companies and a government that only recently bothered about our welfare. I was baptized in those polluted rivers (I still have the pictures to prove it). My white cloth was PINK!! and this was in the late eighties.
You sound very ignorant when a long time reputable organization like Amnesty International…especially when all this article is doing is pointing to "open facts" and proposing that questions be asked.
Is that what you call "another craze to destabilize the fragile peace building"??
I personally don't believe you are REAL PERSON. You are not using your real identity. Your name sounds fake.
Where in the Niger delta does "femie" come from?
Are you a tool of the politicians coming online to harrass legitimate efforts to improve the lives of our people? Yes, don't think we don't know that unscrupulous characters like you are now being used by dirty politicians in Nigeria to monitor online activity.
All well-meaning Nigerians say to you: Get thee behind us Satan!
I encourage every Nigerian citizen to continue to ask questions. Ask your chiefs, ask your LGA chairman, ask your senator, ask the oil companies, ask Mr. Goodluck.
Let us not sell our children and grandchildren for a barrel of oil.
Aaron Femie,
I am from the Niger Delta. Those are my villages and my people that are being sabotaged by that filth…from companies and a government that only recently bothered about our welfare. I was baptized in those polluted rivers (I still have the pictures to prove it). My white cloth was PINK!! and this was in the late eighties.
You sound very ignorant when a long time reputable organization like Amnesty International…especially when all this article is doing is pointing to “open facts” and proposing that questions be asked.
Is that what you call “another craze to destabilize the fragile peace building”??
I personally don’t believe you are REAL PERSON. You are not using your real identity. Your name sounds fake.
Where in the Niger delta does “femie” come from?
Are you a tool of the politicians coming online to harrass legitimate efforts to improve the lives of our people? Yes, don’t think we don’t know that unscrupulous characters like you are now being used by dirty politicians in Nigeria to monitor online activity.
All well-meaning Nigerians say to you: Get thee behind us Satan!
I encourage every Nigerian citizen to continue to ask questions. Ask your chiefs, ask your LGA chairman, ask your senator, ask the oil companies, ask Mr. Goodluck.
Let us not sell our children and grandchildren for a barrel of oil.
I wish all the damage already done can somehow be erased. The delta in my country is badly suffering too so I feel for these people. We are destroying such beautiful and important things.