The area known as the Niger Delta, cover 20,000km2 within wetlands of 70,000km2, formed primarily by sediment deposition. It is home to 20 million people and 40 different ethnic groupings. This floodplain makes up 7.5 per cent of Nigeria’s total land mass. It is the largest wetland and maintains the third-largest drainage basin in Africa.

The Delta’s environment can be broken down into four ecological zones: coastal barrier islands, mangrove swamp forests, freshwater swamps, and lowland rainforests. This incredibly well-endowed ecosystem contains one of the highest concentrations of biodiversity on the planet, in addition to supporting abundant flora and fauna, arable terrain that can sustain a wide variety of crops, lumber or agricultural tree, and more species of freshwater fish than any ecosystem in West Africa.

The region may however, experience a loss of 40 per cent of its inhabitable terrain in the next thirty years as a result of extensive dam construction in the region.

Confirmed sources from the Department of Petroleum Resources say about 1.89 million barrels of petroleum were spilled into the Niger Delta between 1976 and 1996 out of a total of 2.4 million barrels spilled in 4,835 incidents. (approximately 220 thousand cubic metres).

A UNDP report states that there have been a total of 6,8117 oil spills between 1976 and 2001, which account for a loss of three million barrels of oil, of which more than 70 per cent was not recovered. Most of these spills occurred off-shore (69%), a quarter was in swamps and six per cent spilled on land. In the early 2000s, it seemed more spills were due to sabotage than by accidents.

The NNPC, it was learnt, places the quantity of petroleum spilled into the environment yearly at 2,300 cubic metres with an average of 300 individuals spills annually, However, because this amount does not take into account “minor” spills, the World Bank argues that the true quantity of petroleum spilled into the environment could be as much as ten times the officially claimed amount.

The largest individual spills include the blowout of a Texaco offshore station which in 1980 dumped an estimated 400,000m3 of crude oil into the Gulf of Guinea and Royal Dutch Shell’s Forcados Terminal tank failure which produced a spillage estimated at 580,000 barrels (92,000m3).

In 2010, it was reported that between nine million and 13 million barrels have been spilled in the Niger Delta since 1958. One source even calculates that the total amount of petroleum in barrels spilled between 1960 and 1997 is upwards of 100 million barrels (16,000,000m3).

Oil spill is a common occurrence in Nigeria. It occurs due to a number of causes, including, corrosion of pipelines and tankers (accounting for 50% of all spills), sabotage (28%), and oil production operations (21%), with 1% of the spills being accounted for by inadequate or non-functional production equipment. The largest contributor to the oil spill total, is the rupturing or leaking of production infrastructures that are described as very old and lack regular inspection and maintenance.

Corrosion of pipes and tanks also  accounts for such a high percentage of all spills due to the small size of the oilfields in the Niger Delta. There is an extensive network of pipelines between the fields, as well as numerous small networks of flow lines – the narrow diameter pipes that carry oil from wellheads to  flow stations, allowing many opportunities for leaks.

In onshore areas, most pipelines and flow lines are laid above ground. Pipelines, which have an estimate life span of about fifteen years, are old and susceptible to corrosion. Many of the pipelines are as old as twenty to twenty-five years. Even Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) admits that “more of the facilities were constructed between 1960s and early 1980s to the then prevailing standards. SPDC would not build them that way today.”

Sabotage is performed primarily through what is known as “bunkering”, whereby the saboteur attempts to tap the pipeline. In the process of extraction sometimes, the pipeline is damaged or destroyed. Oil extracted in this manner can often be sold.

Sabotage and theft through oil siphoning has become a major issue in the Niger Delta states and as well, contributing to further environmental degradation. Damaged lines may go unnoticed for days, and repair of the damaged pipes takes even longer. Oil  siphoning has become a big business, with the stolen oil quickly making its way onto the black market.

While the popularity of selling stolen oil increases, the number of deaths are increasing. In late December 2006, more than 200 people were killed in the Lagos region of Nigeria in an oil line explosion.

Nigerian regulations of the oil industry are weak and rarely enforced, allowing in essence, the industry to self-regulate.

Oil spillage has a major impact on the ecosystem into which it is released and many constitute ecocide.

Immense tracts of the mangrove forests, which are especially susceptible to oil (mainly because it is stored in the soil and re-released annually during inundations), have been destroyed. An estimated five to ten per cent of Nigerian mangroves, ecosystems have been wiped out either by settlement or oil. The rainforest which previously occupied some 7,400km2 of land has disappeared as well.

Spills in populated areas often spread out over a wide area, destroy crops and aquaculture through contamination of the groundwater and soils. The consumption of dissolved oxygen by bacteria feeding on the spilled hydrocarbons also contributes to the death of fish. In agricultural communities, often a year’s supply of food can be destroyed instantaneously. Because of the careless nature of oil operations in the delta areas the environment is growing increasingly uninhabitable.

The carelessness of the oil industry can perhaps be best encapsulated by a 1983 report issued by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), long before popular unrest surfaced.

The report says, “We witnessed the slow poisoning of the waters of this country and the destruction of vegetation and agricultural land by oil spills which occur during petroleum operations. But since the inception of the oil industry in Nigeria, more than twenty-five years ago, there has been no concerned and effective effort on the part of the government, let alone the oil operators, to control environmental problems associated with the industry”.

As a result, people in the affected areas complain about health issues including breathing problems and skin lesions. Many have lost basic human rights such as health, access to food, clean water, and an ability to work without compensation and government’s attention.

Ayooso is a Port Harcourt based public affairs analyst.

Samson Ayooso