EJAMAH-EBUBU, Nigeria — Nigerian farmer Nwale Nchimaonwi
celebrated when he learnt that an oil law to overhaul the industry and improve
the plight of communities living on crude-producing land had passed after two
decades wait.
اضافة اعلان
His Niger Delta region has long seethed with discontent as communities face
a potent mix of poverty, crude pollution and state neglect despite the wealth
pumped from the ground beneath them.
But Nchimaonwi's enthusiasm soon gave way to anger after it emerged that the
law demanded oil companies contribute only 3 percent of operating costs to
communities, far below the 10 percent they see as fair compensation.
Disappointment with the Petroleum Industry Bill is again testing patience in
Nigeria's delta where many lost farming and fishing livelihoods to
contamination even as foreign oil giants pumped crude from Africa's largest
producer.
"How do you think three percent can clean the spills, provide potable water,
roads, hospitals and jobs in the oil communities?, Nchimaonwi, a leader for the
Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) group, told AFP outside his
home in Ejamah-Ebubu.
A decade ago, the Niger Delta was a hotbed of militants who abducted foreign
oil workers and raided their installations to push for more share of the oil
wealth.
OPEC-member Nigeria's output was slashed before a 2009 amnesty finally
restored peace.
For communities, the years since were spent waiting for lawsuits against foreign
oil companies for environment damages to meander though the courts, but
tensions are simmering again.
Nearly 3,000 spills
Ejamah and three villages make up the Ogoni community of Ebubu, which
recently won a ruling for $111 million in compensation from Shell.
Shell agreed to compensate the community over a 1970 spill that polluted
over 225 hectares of their farmlands and fishing waters, though without
acknowledging responsibility.
Shell says spills came during Nigeria's 1967-1970 civil war when oil infrastructure
was damaged.
Acting Ogoni community ruler Emere Emmanuel Olako Oluji told AFP the money
was a relief and could provide for the community and "put smiles on the
faces of the people."
But other community leaders say the damage is vast.
Ejamah boasts 57 oil wells once operated by Shell before the Anglo-Dutch oil
giant was forced to quit in 1993 because of the
unrest.
While oil production has ceased, pipelines operated by Shell still traverse
the land, creeks and waterways of Ogoniland.
Nigeria's state-run oil company NNPC recently took over the oil wells
following a court order but Ogoni leaders vow to resist any resumption of
production.
According to industry data, between 1976 and 1991, over two million
barrels of oil polluted Ogoniland in 2,976 separate spills.
"Just take a look at this spill," MOSOP's Nchimaonwi said,
pointing to large swath of blackened, dried ground left abandoned in the B-Dere
area of Ogoniland.
"Saro-Wiwa died fighting for justice for his people," he said,
referring to writer, environmental campaigner and MOSOP founder Ken Saro-Wiwa
who was hanged along with eight Ogoni activists in 1995 after a trumped up
murder charge.
He said frustrations were growing among the youth with few opportunities in
the delta.
"Nigeria is sitting on a keg of gunpowder," he said.
Major step
President Muhammadu Buhari's government hopes the oil law will draw in more
investment to Nigeria, whose petroleum industry has long been troubled by
corruption, inefficiency, high costs and security concerns.
But officials said it should also provide for the host communities.
"My prayer is that the people would see this as a major step,"
Godswill Akpabio, the minister in charge of the Niger Delta told reporters.
"People are arguing about percentages, I am not interested in that. We
could manage with this percent but the major thing is to use it
well."
Tamaranebi Benjamin, president of Host Communities Organization, applauded
the new law's passage, but said a provision holding communities liable for
sabotage in their areas should be removed.
"It's only by expunging the obnoxious provisions that lasting peace can
be guaranteed."
For many like cassava farmer Gideo Loole, the law and its 3 percent
compensation feels like an insult stirring up anger.
"We cannot farm and fish. Our people are suffering, and all the
government and oil companies could do is to give us a paltry three
percent," he told AFP, brandishing a cutlass to show his anger.
"We are going to mobilize the youth to fight the government and take
back our God-given resources."
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