From Mike Tayese, Yenagoa

Due to the age long neglect of the Niger Delta environment as a result of oil pollution by the Multinationals, the Bayelsa State Government has resolved to sue international oil companies operating in the state over unmitigated oil pollution for over six decades.

Governor Douye Diri dropped the hint on Monday while addressing an expanded 142nb State Executive Council Meeting to receive the final report of the Bayelsa State Oil and Environment Commission in Government House, Yenagoa.

He stated: “After a review of an advance copy of your Report, I can affirm that it captures the essence of our trials while outlining a hopeful pathway toward resolution.

“The Report appropriately titled, ‘An Environmental Genocide: Counting the Human and Environmental Cost of Oil in Bayelsa, Nigeria,’ is truly alarming.”

Diri further stated: “Additionally, we are encouraged by the revelation of the report that “in most advanced industrialised countries, two basic principles – ‘polluter pays’ and ‘no fault liabilities’ form the cornerstone of the legal regime for regulating extractive industries. Taken together, they mean that those that own and operate facilities are responsible for the damage caused by their pollution even if they are not at fault.”

He indicated that the government may pursue the legal redress outside the shores of Nigeria.

“Consequently, the perennial excuse by the IOCs that almost  90 percent of leaks are due to sabotage, a finding they believe frees them of liability for compensating the victim..’ would not find accommodation in foreign jurisdictions. That is why we are happy that this Commission has strengthened our capacity to litigate anywhere in the world.”

Diri quoted parts of the report in his address noting that Bayelsa bears 25 percent of Nigeria’s oil pollution and that one study estimated that in 2012 alone, oil spills in Nigeria, and predominantly in the Niger Delta resulted in over 16,000 additional neonatal deaths, saying “even one life lost to accommodate the greed of oil exploration is one death too many.”

On the level of oil contamination, he said it “has been so heavy that according to estimates, as much as one and a half barrels of oil has been spilled in Bayelsa for every man, woman and child living in the state today. The figures are even higher for some parts of Bayelsa, with, for instance, as many as six barrels of oil spilled for every person in the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area.”

According to him, “The stark reality is devastating: every Bayelsa resident is affected, our lives perpetually endangered. The brutal implication: we are either already dead or waiting to die.”

The report estimated between 1970 and 2014, Nigeria earned an estimated trillion dollars in oil revenue. Since 2006, oil produced in Bayelsa generated over US $150 billion for the Federal Government and billions for the international oil companies that operate its wells. On average, oil produced in Bayelsa is responsible for approximately US $10 billion in government revenues per year.

Diri formally dissolved the commission, but said some of the members would be appointed into a committee he would soon set up on the implementation of the report which he had assured would be done.

Speaking while presenting the final report to Governor Diri, Chairman of the Bayelsa State Oil and Environment Commission, Archbishop John Sentamu, said oil has been a revenue spinner for the Federal Government, but a curse for the land of the state.

Sentamu noted that oil pollution has resulted in the loss of about 40 percent of mangroves and that the level of toxic wastes exceeds acceptable levels in several parts of the state.

Other members of the commission who spoke highlighted various aspects of the report urging Governor Diri and Bayelsa State Government to act swiftly to seek environmental justice.

The commission recommended a comprehensive Bayelsa recovery and cleanup plan, a recovery fund of US 12 billion over 12 years, establishment of a Bayelsa Recovery Agency, a new compensation scheme for those affected and fundamental reform of the regulatory regime.

It also called for the introduction of a new legal framework and new dispute resolution procedures, enshrine and enhanced role for state governments, strengthen scrutiny of IOC behaviour both internationally and in their home jurisdictions, overhaul IOC approaches to community engagement to ensure transparency, accountability and voice as well as establish a legally binding effective legacy and decommissioning regime.