(Being a paper
presented by Hon. O. K. Chinda (MHR) on the occasion of the 3RD ENVIRONMENT OUTREACH
MAGAZINE PUBLIC LECTURE/ENVIRONMENTAL AWARDS ON FRIDAY 28TH SEPTEMBER, 2012)
1) INTRODUCTION:
Generally
speaking, the petroleum industry includes the processes of exploration,
extraction, refining, transportation (usually through tankers and pipelines)
and the marketing of petroleum products (i.e, fuel oil and gasoline (petrol).
The
Petroleum industry in Nigeria is unarguably the largest industry and main
generator of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) since the discovering of oil in
Niger Delta region in the late 1950s.
2)
BRIEF
HISTORY OF THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY IN NIGERIA:
Oil
was first discovered in commercial quantity by the British at Oloibiri (in
present day Bayelsa State in 1956. Since then, oil has come to be the main stay
of the Nigerian economy; contributing more than 80% of the country's foreign
exchange. Hitherto, Agriculture was the main stay of the country's economy.
3)
THE
NIGER DELTA REGION:
The
Niger Delta region is located in the South-South of Nigeria in the West Coast
of Africa.
The
region has been defined more sweepingly to be synonymous with oil producing
area of Nigeria (a view which may probably have influenced the debate at the
National Assembly during the process of making of the NDDC Act 2000 and
possibly shaped the final definition of the Niger delta under the said NDDC
Act.
However,
in recent times, some people have defined the Niger Delta to mean the Six States
of the South-South zone of Nigeria, namely Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River,
Delta, Edo and Rivers.
This
definition, I am sure, accords with the purpose of this presentation and the reason
for which we are gathered here today.
Due
to the enormous natural endowment of resources (including Petroleum and gas resources)
the Niger Delta region is of strategic importance to Nigeria as well as the
International community.
4)
PETROLEUM
INDUSTRY OPERATION IN THE NIGER DELTA:
As stated earlier on, oil was first discovered in Nigeria in 1956 when Shell
D'Arcy struck oil in commercial quantity at Oloibiri (in present day Ogbia
Local Government Area of Bayelsa State) in the Niger Delta. Since then, the Niger Delta region has become
the largest and highest quality oil and gas deposits and it is also at the
heart of Nigeria's oil production activities.
Oil
and gas exports (from the Niger Delta region) accounts for over 90% of export earnings
and about 83% of the Federal Government revenue, as well as generating more
than 40% of the country's GDP. It also provides about 95% of foreign exchange
earnings and about 65% of Government budgetary revenues.
According
to available data from the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Nigeria has a total
of 159 oilfields and 1481 wells in operation. Most (if not all) of these
oilfields are scattered in the Niger Delta region.
Nigeria
currently ranks as the sixth (6th) largest exporter of crude oil in the World.
Estimated oil reserve as at 1997 was put at about 22 billion barrels, while
more oil discoveries, particularly offshore are being made. For example, the Bonga
Field discovered 10 kilometres southwest of the Niger Delta has about 600
million barrels and is likely to be the largest reservoir in the World.
5)
IMPACT
OF THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY ON THE NIGER DELTA:
Oil
is undoubtedly of central importance to the Nigerian economy. Yet oil operations have lots of challenges
and have caused tremendous harm and damages to the Niger Delta environment as
well as to the inhabitants of the region where these oil operations take place.
The
impact of oil operations on the people of the Niger Delta has been a case of very serious disaster. In fact, the Niger Delta region is said to have one of the highest incidence of
environmental disasters in the World.
The
discovery of oil has been an ecological disaster for the Niger Delta (one of the most populous parts of the
country) where the oil is extracted. Shell
and other Western Oil companies have, in collusion with successive military dictatorships,
raped the region. Petrol contamination
of the water table has made local water undrinkable.
Farming and fishing grounds have
been ruined and gas flaring in the Delta is said to be Africa's single
biggest contribution to greenhouse
gas emissions.
Ken
Saro Wiwa, spokesman for the Movement of the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) until he was
hanged in November 1995 speaking
on the despoliation of the (Ogoni) Niger Delta environment stated that the environment in Ogoni has
been ‘‘completely devastated by three
decades of reckless exploitation or ecological warfare by Shell…An ecological war is highly
lethal, the more so as it is unconventional.
It is Omnicidal in effect. Human life, Flora, Fauna, the air, fall at its feet and finally the land itself dies". (see The 1999 Human Rights Watch Report, "The Price of
Oil" Corporate Social Responsibility And Human Rights Violations In Nigeria's Oil Producing Communities"),Page
56.
According
to O'Fairchellaigh (1991:228), "As minerals have been developed in increasingly
remote parts of the World, their exploitation has had a growing impact on"
indigenous" "native" or "aboriginal" peoples, on
groups which have had only limited contact with industrial society and which retain
a significant part of their pre-industrial economic, social and cultural
structures".
The
four volume report of the Niger Delta Environmental Survey (NDES)(1997) also has excellent data on
this issue, while various reports and
bulletins of the Environmental Rights Action (ERA) also state the environmental horror that is daily visited on the
Niger Delta region on account of
oil and gas exploration activities that take place
in the region.
The
entire Niger Delta region is replete with cases of oil spill and other
unwholesome oil exploration activities. Thus the current Minister of Petroleum
Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison Madueke recently while speaking in an interview
with CNN in London on oil spills and degradation of the environment as a result
of oil exploration activities acknowledged that about Nine Million barrels of
oil may have been spilled in the Niger Delta dating back to 1938 when oil
exploration and production started.
As
if these are not enough, the Military regime of the past, together with their
civilian collaborators with one interest in mind, namely that of taking all the
benefits from the petro-dollar, but ignoring the burden of oil production,
enacted very stringent legislations that not only made oil bearing communities
very miserable, but also sought to cow them and make their interest absolutely
subservient to those of the ruling oligarchy. (See for example, the various
Acts that regulate Petroleum Industry operations as well as the Ogoni Civil Disturbances
And Other Related Offences Decree promulgated by the late General Sani Abacha
in 1995 under which Ken Saro Wiwa and 8 others were tried and subsequently
sentenced to death by hanging).
S.
44(3) CFRN, 1999 is unfriendly to oil bearing communities of the Niger Delta
region. The section provides that ‘‘Notwithstanding
the foregoing provisions of this section, the entire property in and control or
all minerals, mineral oils and natural gas in, under or upon any land in
Nigeria or in, under or upon the territorial waters and the Exclusive Economic
Zone of Nigeria shall vest in the Government of the Federation and shall be
managed in such manner as may be prescribed by the National Assembly’’.
The
proviso to S. 162(2) is by no means better. It states that ‘‘provided that the principle of derivation
shall be constantly reflected in any approved formula as being not less than
thirteen percent of the revenue accruing to the Federation Account directly
from any natural resource’’.
The
situation in every part, every Community of the Niger Delta is that bad: from
Oloibiri to Bomu; Elelenwo to Rumuekpe; Adibawa to Otorogu; Egi/Obagi to Kolo; Eket
to Ibeno and indeed anywhere else where oil exploration activities go on in the
Niger Delta, the situation is the same. Oil has been extracted as if the
communities from where they are extracted do not exist.
In
the search for solution to the problems facing the Petroleum industry in Nigeria,
therefore, it is my opinion that the most important and foundational thing to
do is to amend the constitution by expunging S.44(3) and replacing the words
‘‘thirteen percent’’ in the proviso to S.162 (2) with fifty percent.
(I
am happy to say that I have since about two months ago sent two bills on the
above proposal to the House and they are expected to be listed for debate soon.
I crave your kind indulgence to support me by appealing to your various
Representatives to lend their support to these Bills whenever it comes up for
debate on the floor of the House).
The
solution to the Niger Delta situation, I am afraid is not in the present
Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) which long title describes it as an "Act to Provide For The Establishment Of A
Legal, Fiscal And Regulatory Framework For The Petroleum Industry In Nigeria
And For Other Related Matters’’.
The
long title of the Bill clearly shows what it is all about. It is also intended
to bring transparency, accountability and good governance into Petroleum
Industry operations, as well as offer guidelines that would protect the
environment from oil spills and other forms degradation.
The
Bill as proposed does not address the political and constitutional questions of
ownership and participation in the management and use of oil resources by the
Niger delta people. Indeed, its
consideration on the interest of the people and the oil bearing countries is
perfunctory and not intended to achieve any benefit(s) for them. The PIB in
S.1(h) makes provision for transparency and openness in the administration of
the petroleum resources of the country. (See also S.3 thereof).
However,
community interest is not adequately addressed except that S.116 provides for establishment
of the Petroleum Host Community Fund (a
Fund which according to S.117 ‘‘shall be utilized for the development of the
economic and social infrastructure of the communities within the petroleum
producing area’’.
6)
A
BLESSING OR A CURSE?
Taking
a stand on whether the petroleum Industry in Nigeria and the Niger Delta
Environment is a blessing or a curse depends largely on where one is standing
or looking at the issue from.
From
an economic view point and particularly for multi-national oil corporations and
beneficiaries of "the spoils of war’’, the petroleum industry in Nigeria is
a blessing- what with the giant of Africa status, the staggering oil revenues
that accrues therefrom, access to international loans, fat bank accounts, large
scale acquisition of wealth etc.
However,
for every true democratic, every Niger Deltan, including myself, it is clear that
the petroleum industry in Nigeria vis-Ã -vis the Niger Delta environment epitomises
a ‘‘resource curse’’ as evidenced by:
v collapse
of basic Infrastructures in the region;
v Disruption
of the peoples livelihood pattern and survival;
v Abject
poverty - 80% live below poverty line;
v Lack
of evident development within the region;
v high
unemployment rate;
v Hunger,
disease and untimely deaths;
v Rise
of militancy, kidnappings, armed robbery;
v Pipeline
vandalism and illegal oil bunkering activities in the region etc.
