THE NATION

THE Sangana Beach in Bayelsa State was recently littered with different sizes of dead fishes suspected to have been killed by the pollution of the water occasioned by oil spills. The sight of dead fishes floating on the river or motionless by the sea shore invokes memories of a scene of genocide where carcasses of human bodies litter the ground.

The incident, according to the natives, who are mainly farmers and fishermen, was just one of the numerous damages and setbacks that incessant oil spills have brought to their communities.

“Our terrain is gone, totally gone. There is no fish in it again and we are suffering,” Noel Ikonikumo, Chairman, United Fishing Union of Sangana Community, told our correspondent in a tone of despondency.

“Oil spill is a serious matter. We experienced it even yesterday. I was on the sea when the spill started. Whenever the spill occurs, we would not see fish in that area again in the next 10 years. Our members have been leaving our area for other places in order to make a catch and take care of their families. There is no way the people that are fishing in the creek can cope because everywhere is contaminated.”

To dissuade people from consuming contaminated fish and contracting life threatening diseases, Noel said many communities, including Sangana, now engage town criers to go round and alert the people to the dangers.

In spite of that, he said, “some people still manage to eat the contaminated fishes because there is nothing they can do. When you eat it, you will perceive the smell of crude oil.

“Periwinkle is one other thing that is almost vanishing from our area. It is one of the things that crude oil normally kills.

“Once crude oil gets to the mangrove, it will remain there for some days before it will melt into the ground. Small crabs are no longer there again too. If this continues for the next four years, I don’t know how the fishermen would cope.”

A former Chairman of Nigerian Medical Association in the state, Dr Michael Azebi, said many of the residents had been presenting myriads of health challenges including diarrhoea, chronic skin diseases and cancer, among others, as a result of their exposure to polluted water and consumption of contaminated fishes and other sea foods.

In Rivers State, pollution of the environment together with the attendant challenges is said to have spiked the death rate, with Goi community in Gokana Local Government Area of the state the worst hit.

“Every week, we bury no fewer than six to seven persons in my area. More than five people have died today. The people who died were just between 25 and 40 years. The water we drink and the polluted environment have increased our mortality rate,” the monarch, Chief Eric Dooli, said.

Basil Nkpordee, a community leader in Ogoni, captured their plight thus: “We are living corpses because the air is polluted and the water too is polluted. We eat the fish from polluted water and we also drink the water because there is no alternative. The pollution in Ogoni is pervasive.

“Oil pollution has become a reccurring decimal in Ogoni land. The activities of oil multinationals have not changed since the late Ken Saro-Wiwa publicly denounced it.

“Many communities here in Ogoni have become environmental refugees because of pollution. One of such communities is Goi. Life is completely dead in that community.

“The presence of oil in Ogoni has brought crisis instead of development, and that is why if anybody crosses the age of 50 here, it calls for celebration.”

Corroborating Basil, Goi’s monarch, Chief Eric, said: “The mortality rate is very high. The amount of sicknesses we have been having here is enormous. We have people with rashes and respiratory problems among others.

“Recently, there was massive death of fishes in the Boni side which also affected our creeks here. Some people who were desperate to get fish to sell and sustain themselves went and packed the dead fishes. Many of the people who bought the polluted fishes and consumed them died.  Those concerned are yet to address the issue.

“Many of our chiefs are young people. Look at my age. I am the head of my dynasty in the whole Gokana Kingdom. Many of the council of chiefs’ members in Gokana are small boys who inherited the thrones of their fathers because of the mortality rate caused by high intake of polluted water, food and air.

“The children too are dying in their numbers while the women are having serious miscarriages.”

Friday Mbani, one of the youth leaders in Ogoni, said:  “Life expectancy is becoming very short here in Ogoni. The only thing we are always inviting people for is burial. The elderly chiefs we have are only in their 40s.”

A traditional chief in Gbaramatu Kingdom of Delta State, who doubles as the National Coordinator of Centre for Peace and Environmental Justice, Comrade Sheriff Mulade, said the same problems apply in Delta State.

“In fact, the surface of our land is destroyed. No agriculture can take place in this environment. The water body is contaminated and you cannot use it for anything.

“As Ijaw people, our means of survival is the fish and the river. Today, we cannot drink from the river or bathe with the water. It causes untimely death,” Mulade said.

He alleged that “if there is a spill in any of the multinational companies, it is the same companies that will provide logistics. They will fly National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) to Warri. The same company that caused the spill will lodge them in a hotel. They will be the one to convey them to the spill location. So, what do you expect? It is what the company wants that the environmental agency will agree to.  Then the community will stand alone.”

Strange diseases hit communities

Following the enormity of the pollution in the communities, residents said they have continued to witness and lose their beloved ones to sicknesses that were hitherto not found in the areas.

“Before now, we had not experienced cancer. But today, breast cancer is the order of the day, as well as typhoid fever and malaria, all because of oil pollution,” Nkpordee, an Ogoni community leader said.

Asked about the connection between oil pollution and cancer, he said: “I earlier told you that we eat polluted fish. If you go to Goi community and you meet a fisher man that is coming from the creek and buy a fish from him, when you open the fish, you will see that there is oil in it.

“Research has shown and proved that the reason why the women have breast cancer is that they are the ones that like to eat the head of fish.

“The gill of the fish absorbs the crude oil and they find it difficult to clean the oil from the gill. Therefore, eating the fish’s head makes them to suffer cancer.

“We contacted health personnel to know why there has been pervasive cancer in the land and they told us it occurs as a result of the contaminated fish consumed by Ogoni people, especially the head of fish.

“Between 2018 and 2020, more than 20 persons died of cancer of the breast, which was so strange in Ogoniland.”

Nkpordee further said: “In Isisioke, the well that is consumed by the people contains benzene, which also causes cancer. For the fact that they don’t have alternative means to get water, they keep drinking this water and thereby contact these diseases.

“In a community called Kani in Gokana Local Government Area, there is no single oil well. But when it rains, the colour of the rain water is black. In Ogoniland before now, when it rained, we used to bathe with rain water, drink and use it for domestic purposes. But because of the high rate of pollution, rain water is no longer usable because it is black.

“Even when you place a bucket at the centre of your compound and rain falls into it directly from heaven, the colour of the water is black. It is a very pathetic situation.

“When oil came, we thought that it was oil. We never knew that it was blood, because its presence has done us more harm than good. We have lost generations of leaders because of the oil multinationals.

“It was stated in UNEP report that Isisioke should be given emergency water, but up till now, nothing has been done.”

Women and children according to Friday Mbani, an Ogoni youth leader, are more vulnerable to the health problems.

He said: “The pollution is causing many of the women to have menopausal problems. When you see a young girl, she will tell you she is not seeing her period again. I am a practitioner in the medical field, and many people bring their issues to me.

“It appears there is a conspiracy between the government and the multinational oil companies to destroy life in Ogoni land and the Niger Delta as a region.

“No wonder many of the plants and the animals that we were used to are no longer there now. It is hard to see a vulture here.  Even butterfly, you can’t find it again. Many medicinal plants and trees are not there again.”

Ayiba Tonye, a fish seller in Sangana area of Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, said she and many other women had developed itchy skin from using the polluted water. The problem, according to Ayiba is called ‘sweetie’ among the people because it is enjoyable scratching it.

“Pregnant women whose pregnancies are not strong perceive the toxic smell and have miscarriages. A young girl lost her four-month-old pregnancy recently.

“It is also causing sweetie for us. Sweetie in our place is skin rash that swells and brings out water when you scratch your body. I have it on my body as I am talking to you now. I have gone to the hospital but the rash refused to go.”

Kroma County, another fish seller in the area, corroborated Ayiba’s claim.

She said: “As women, we sometimes go to the waterside to wash our body. The oil in the water causes infections for us. We do have rashes after bathing with the water.

“Whenever we have infections, we go to the chemist for medications. We don’t have access to potable water. Whenever it rains, the water would be dark and look like smoke.”

Pollution renders fishermen, farmers idle

Fishermen and farmers are said to have been badly hit by the level of pollution in the region. The land and the rivers are massively polluted, rendering the people jobless and incapable of fending for their families.

According to the Rise for Bayelsa Campaign, an online platform, about 40 million litres of oil are spilled every year across the Niger Delta.

Amnesty International in one of its reports described the Niger Delta as Africa’s most important oil-producing region and one of the most polluted places on earth.

Chief Eric of Goi Community, Rivers State, said oil spillage has had a telling effect on fishing and farming in the community. “There has been no source of livelihood again since this thing has been happening. There is nothing like fish for the fishermen to catch.

“The little they are getting now is not enough to sustain the community. They go as far as Boni and Andoni areas to look for fish.  We no longer find periwinkle and oyster shell in our area.”

Asked about the effect on farmers, the monarch said: “Whatever affects the fishermen also affects the farmers. Fishing and farming are the basic things that our people depend on for their sustenance.

“The spillage has also affected the crops cultivated. The harvest is nothing to write home about. Imagine an okro seed that you plant producing one big okro on its head and that would be the end. This is what people plant and harvest for three to four months in some other places.

“Our people here don’t benefit from agricultural seeds that the federal government gives to farmers in the north. For example, fertilisers and improved seedlings were given to farmers in the north but none of such was given to our farmers.

“Majority of our people have been displaced because of all these challenges. They have migrated to other places where they can get land to farm and sustain their families. Their income has been badly affected.

“Even if the problem is addressed, the government is supposed to make the oil companies to provide alternative means of livelihood for the people.”

While lamenting the damage that oil spills do to their fishing equipment, the Chairman of United Fishing Union of Sangana Community, Bayelsa, Noel, said they had been forced to go into the ocean in search of fish since they no longer get fishes to catch in the creeks and swamps.

“If the spill affects your fishing equipment, then it means they are gone forever. We always have to buy another one each time such a problem occurs.

“Unfortunately for us, fishing equipment has become very expensive. We always have to apply for loan to get money to buy new equipment, but it is always not certain the application for loan will succeed.

“We are crying to the oil companies to make sure they give us compensation or assist us to upgrade our fishing materials so that we can go deep into the sea. If you have a low powered engine, you cannot make a good catch.

“Our efforts to reach out to the oil companies are fruitless. We have written series of letters to government bodies without any response.”

The immediate past paramount ruler of Kalaba community, ayelsa State, Chief Roman Joe Orukali, regretted that the exploration of oil in the land has badly affected their farming and fishing business.

He said: “Several spills have occurred in our environment and they were not cleaned up, and when flood occurs, it carries these crude materials to our farms and cause serious damage to them and our fishing areas.

“The produce this time is nothing to write home about. In those days when oil pollution had not been much in the environment, we were producing a lot of food and even taking them to the market. But this time around, the produce are so small.

“The same thing applies to the fishes too. Some of our people no longer go into fishing in some areas because some of the swamps have been destroyed and there is no way to carry out fishing activity.

“When we no longer carry our produce to the market, definitely our income reduces. We find it difficult to even sponsor some of our children in school because the income is no longer there.”

The visibly disturbed chief further said: “Some of the fishes die inside the river and when the environment is no longer conducive for the fishes to live, they have to look for a place that is convenient for them.

“I know of a place where the spill occurred around my community in 2012 and till now, if you kill fish there and eat it, it will seem as if you are drinking crude oil. We thank God that we also have a running creek from where we manage to get fish to eat, but the catch is not as it used to be because of the pollution in our environment.

“We need assistance from all the multinational companies and even the government.”

Women who sell fish to augment the income of their husbands also decried the development in the community.

“When our men return from fishing, we would buy from them and resell to strangers. That has been what gives us the income that we use to train our children. Two of my children are in the university.

“The business is not what it used to be because of the spillage. The fishes are dying in the river as if the end of the world is approaching. If you take the fish home to cook and eat, you are sure to have sickness.

“Some of the dead fishes would already be rotten when they float on the water with maggot coming out from their heads. If you take it home to cook, you will find crude oil flowing inside them. If you eat it, you will contract sickness.

“The government takes our oil and we are suffering here with our children,” Ayiba Tonye, of Sangana Community, Bayelsa State, said.

Ayiba’s kinswoman, Kroma County, also lamented that the spillage does not allow them to get fish.

County said: “The fish you would sometimes see in the river would be floating, meaning that they have died. When you even manage to bring it home, you would not be able to eat it because the smell of fuel will be all over it.

“My husband is a fisherman but he doesn’t catch fish so well again. At times, they will buy fuel inside canoe with the little money they have, hoping that they would catch fish and make money after selling it, but at the end of the day, they return home without catching anything.

“This spillage is causing us untold hardship. Everywhere you go, there is no fish. Before now, we used to have fish in excess. I used to buy and sell fish, but now I don’t get a good number of fish to buy.

“I now sell provision, but people hardly buy provision if they don’t catch fish. Once there is no fish, business crumbles. We are not government workers and dot no get salaries. When they catch large quantity of fish everybody feels happy and goes out of their ways to buy things.

“It is fishing that we are living on.  To pay the children’s school fees is even a problem.”

Economic setback fuelling youth restiveness

The menace of oil spills and the attendant economic effects on the people is said to be partly responsible for the escalation of violence in the Niger Delta.

A youth leader in Ogoni, Friday Mbani, said because of the poor living standard in the communities, “you will find communal clashes, conflicts everywhere.

“As we are talking now, if the community is aware that I am talking about oil issue, they will think somebody has given me money, and if you don’t manage the situation very well, it will turn into something else.

“This is why you will be hearing that Ogoni is a violent region. We are not actually violent.”

Benjamin Warder, a former youth leader in lkarama area of Bayelsa State, shared Friday’s line of thought. “Of course, the Niger Delta people are farmers and fishermen. Our farm lands and rivers have been degraded and polluted. Oil pollution has affected us economically.

“White collar jobs are not easily seen and found here. Whatever affects the community affects the youths also. It has a general effect on the society. This increases the crime rate in the society.

“For me as a youth leader, I have been advocating that the government and the multi- national oil companies should look into engaging the youths in skill development and craft development, so that everyone could be meaningfully engaged and not wait for white collar jobs. But some of those advocacies have not yielded any benefits for now.”

Bemoaning the negative impact of oil spill in Bayelsa and the Niger Delta at large, renowned environmentalist, Morris Allagoa, noted that crude oil has a very toxic effect on the environment. “If you pour crude oil in a well grassed area and you come back after a week, you will see all the grass dying. If it spills on a river, you would see the fishes and even the crocodiles and snails dying because of the chemical composition of crude oil. It is very, very inimical to the environment in terms of denying the people their means of livelihood.”

He further said: “When lakes or swamps where people are supposed to make money from are affected by crude oil, the fishes would all die. Those that will survive will find ways to migrate from that environment.

“That is how it even happens on the sea. That is how it denies the fishermen, fisher women and farmers of their livelihoods. It also denies them of their good health.

“Some of them come down with different types of sicknesses. Respiratory problem is more rampant. We are also denied of potable water.

“The people’s only source of water is the river or the rain water, but these have been affected by gas flaring.”