Transcript
My name is Olanrewaju Suraju, and I'm the chair of Human and Environmental Development Agenda/HEDA resource center, based in Nigeria.
It used to be a very beautiful landscape. Before the advent of discovery of crude oil in Oloibiri, in the Niger Delta, you have a community that was peacefully existing in this environment area, traditional farmers and fishermen who were living their self-sustaining life and easily criss-crossing the whole landscape of the Delta area.
That was before the oil. It has moved a different thing entirely with the discovery of the oil and gas.
When it is extracted, originally this is supposed to be used either for the cooking or generating electricity. Unfortunately, many of the oil companies, they refused to establish the necessary facilities for the locals to utilize the liquefied gas to assist in their normal life, so many of them are still using the firewood and coal for cooking. And this gas is flared on a daily basis by the oil companies.
The gas flare, it's the process of the refining of the crude oil. With the gas flaring in the Delta, it is more or less 24 hours of daylight. And you can see it even from every part of the Delta because it's usually just about the only light that you see around when the flaring goes on. And it is usually done many times, even at night, more than the day.
You will see estates that are constructed by the oil companies for the expatriates and even some of their local workers who have 24 hours supply of power, but the community where the oil is exploited don't even have one hour of electricity in 24 hours. The only source of light that they get is the fire burning consistently from the chimney of the gas flaring plant where the oil companies are burning the gas.
You can even hear the sound. The sound of the fireball vvvvv where you would see the gas, you know, it’s just like when you light a lighter in the front of an insecticide can and you spray the can over the lighter -- that is just a microcosm of what the gas flaring looks like. And that goes up into the air, something close to about 10-story building.
The community are exposed to very dangerous, incurable, cancerous diseases that are actually taking their lives almost on daily basis. So you can see the farm produce and plants around the area, turning from their natural green to yellow, and you can also see on the surface of the water, where the inhabitants of the water are also dead, or malnourished, as a function of the pollution of the water.
Deadlines were set as far back as 1976. Unfortunately 45 years down the line, the gas is still being flared. The deadline was set for December 2020. These oil companies still failed to stop the flaring. A new date has just been set for 2030. From all indications, there's every likelihood that the latest deadline will still be a pipe dream just like the previous deadlines.
The country is reported to be losing close to a billion dollars on an annual basis, from non-paid sanctions and penalties for gas flaring.
And it is just the kind of nightmare that you get almost every day, when you see people facing deprivation, and also daylight robbery by those who are expected to protect their interests. It is difficult to see injustice, and then also look the other way, or pretend that things are normal. The level of deprivation, the level of neglect, the level of inhumanity, the level of also want that has actually ruled their lives … We're not talking about 5, 10, 15 or 20 years, you're talking about decades.
The United States government must hold accountable some of these oil companies, monitor their operations and ensure that they operate by the laws of the local countries where they are operating. It is not only just affecting Nigeria, it is already also affecting the world, because that is also part of the threat of climate change.
Music: Gusty Hollow by Blue Dot Sessions