RIGHTS: Nigerian Challenge Over Emissions

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Stefania Bianchi

BRUSSELS, Jun 20 2005 (IPS) - Ethnic communities from Nigeria’s Niger Delta are challenging the Nigerian government and some of the world’s biggest oil companies over the level of greenhouse gases emitted during oil production.

Communities in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of the country filed a legal action against the Nigerian government, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and the Shell, Exxon, Chevron, Total and Agip oil companies Monday (Jun. 20) to stop gas flaring in the area, saying it violates their human rights.

Flaring is the process of burning off surplus combustible vapours from a well, either as a means of disposal or as a safety measure to relieve well pressure, and is the biggest source of air emissions from offshore oil and gas installations.

Flaring has been prohibited in Nigeria since 1984 under the Associated Gas Reinjection Act. This act only allows companies to flare if they have field-specific, lawfully issued ministerial certificates. Despite requests, Friends of the Earth which is supporting the Nigerian communities in their legal battle says none of these have ever been made public.

The environmental group says more gas is flared in Nigeria than anywhere else in the world.

The flares contain a cocktail of toxins that affect the health and livelihood of local communities. This has exposed Niger Delta residents to an increased risk of premature deaths, child respiratory illnesses, asthma and cancer over the past 40 years, environmentalists and local people say.

The Nigerian arm of Friends of the Earth says the emission of these toxins violates the Delta residents’ rights guaranteed under Nigerian law, such as the right to live in dignity, and to enjoy health and a satisfactory environment.

Reverend Nnimmo Bassey, executive director of Friends of the Earth Nigeria, says the filing of the legal case is “a major step in our collective effort as citizens of Nigeria” to make oil and gas corporations and the government behave responsibly.

“For too long we have witnessed the atrocious flaring of associated gas by profiteering oil corporations that hold the people in utmost contempt. We are calling on the law to defend our impoverished citizens,” he said in a statement Monday.

In a report ‘Gas Flaring in Nigeria: A human rights, environmental and economic monstrosity’ launched Monday (Jun. 20) to coincide with the legal case, the Climate Justice Programme which encourages the enforcement of law internationally to combat climate change, and Friends of the Earth Nigeria say approximately 2.5 billion cubic feet of gas associated with crude oil is wasted through gas flaring everyday.

This is equal to 40 percent of all of Africa’s natural gas consumption in 2001, while the annual financial loss to Nigeria is approximately 2 billion euros (2.5 billion dollars).

Che Ibegwura from Erema in the Niger Delta highlighted the social costs for Nigerians living in that region.

“Our farmlands have been polluted. We labour hard to plant but little comes out. Our roofs are corroded. Our air is polluted. Our children are sick. Even the rainwater we drink is contaminated with black soot from the gas flares. We cannot continue with this suffering. We need to take legal action to protect ourselves, our children and our future,” she said.

Climate Justice Programme is calling on the G8 leaders to address the issue of Nigerian gas flaring at the Gleneagles summit next month.

“As the G8 prepares to discuss climate change and Africa, Nigerian gas flaring provides them with an outrageous example of the problems. It is a shameful and indefensible stain on the reputation of western oil companies,” Peter Roderick, co-director of the Climate Justice Programme said Monday.

Roderick says the appalling waste of greenhouse gases in one of the world’s poorest countries is a violation of the human rights of those subjected to the flaring.

Paul de Clerck, coordinator of the Friends of the Earth International Corporate campaign said the Nigerian communities are making a number of concrete demands.

“Friends of the Earth Nigeria and the Nigerian people are insisting that flaring must stop immediately and that exploration and new oil field development must end until facilities are in place for the use of all associated gas,” he told IPS Monday.

The group is also demanding that all ministerial certificates, if any, that have purported to allow flaring must be disclosed by the big oil companies and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.