Environment
Environmentalist wants FG to Revoke, Re-allocate Licences of Frequent Polluters
Mr Iniruo Wills, a well-known environmentalist, has advocated for the revocation and re-awarding of licences only to oil firms that operate in an environmentally sustainable manner.
Wills made the call on Wednesday in a paper he presented at the ongoing 57th conference of the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society, in Port Harcourt, Rivers.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the paper was titled: ‘Environmental responsibilities for hydrocarbon development in divested Fields.
’Wills, a former Commissioner for Environment in Bayelsa, recommended that the Minister of Petroleum Resources, the Minister of Environment and Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) should jointly administer the licencing policy.
The environmentalist noted that such an approach would be in harmony with the current legal framework in respect of two to three oil blocs, in line with the welcome provisions in section 96 of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
He urged oil companies operating in the Niger Delta region to review their operational processes and take responsibility for their actions that usually lead to discharge of oil and gas.
According to Wills, in one of the oil fields divested in Bayelsa by an International Oil Company (IOC), there was a massive rig explosion that led to displacement of the host communities.
“No Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was conducted in the first place for the project in which the rig explosion occurred.
“This was pre-divestment, but the impacts continue and might last for decades. There has not been satisfactory ecological and social remediation. Now the asset has reportedly been divested.
“Besides the egregious default of not doing an EIA for the base project, what kind of Environmental Effects Statement could have been prepared, if any, to warrant regulatory approval for such a divestment, with the huge environmental baggage outstanding?
“Who will eventually pay for the cost of remediation and compensation in line with best practice?
“The present operator, its predecessor, NNPC as a dominant JV partner with controlling influence, or the regulators who may have failed in their regulatory duty of care to the entire spectrum of stakeholders?
“Are the host state, communities and the environment not left with the short end of the stick? To add to this, for most of November 2021, there was a major gas leak from one of the divested fields and facilities,” he said.
According to him, in another divested field, also in Bayelsa, the new operator claims that it was not allowed to do any environmental due diligence by its predecessor, so it cannot assume liability for the series of unattended pollution before it took over.
“The divestment agreement states that the assignor/acquirer will take over assets and liabilities, which is an elementary principle of law between contracting parties when you buy an asset.
“There have been countless additional spill disasters since the divestment, including a recent well explosion that may easily have pumped over a million barrels of crude oil and gas into the ecosystem, killing or displacing most of the biodiversity in the area.
“There have been more spills even after that. And for over a year, the new operator has been in court with the former asset owner on claims that it was sold “damaged goods”, implying some of the major facilities were prone to repeated spills.”
Will advised the Federal Ministry of Environment to set up a Niger Delta wide comprehensive environmental remediation programme to oversee remediation of polluted fields.
According to him, the programme should be modelled after the integration of the UNEP Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland, the ongoing HYPREP clean up of Ogoniland and the Bodo Mediation Initiative/Remediation Project.
“All operators, including NNPC, should be made to contribute commensurately to fund the exercise, in settlement of their historical environmental liabilities and in lieu of their remediation fund obligations till date under the PIA.
“Concurrently, a comprehensive decommissioning and asset audit/upgrade campaign should be driven by NUPRC and its midstream counterpart.
”To abate a continuing surge in ecological calamities and concomitant liabilities arising from the Nigerian playbook of hydrocarbon development”, he said.
“The Chief Judge of the Federal High Court should, under his statutory powers, set up a division of the FHC in at least every senatorial district in the oil-producing states to make room for communities to access the Nigerian legal system.” Wills said
He appealed to the Chief Judge to enable the fast-tracking of environmental litigation by bringing it into the ambit of the Fundamental Human Rights (Enforcement) Rules.
Wills also recommended that the PIA should be amended to mandate all petroleum mining lease holders, with the possible exception of marginal field operators, to be publicly listed on the stock exchange.
According to him, the listing will serve to subject the oil firms to the disclosures, scrutiny and other minimum corporate governance standards that apply to publicly quoted firms. (NAN)
Environment
Prolonged Public Holidays Come with Negative Economic Effects on Citizens – Anambra Residents
Anambra residents have slammed the additional day approved by the Federal Government for the Muslim faithful to celebrate the 2024 Eid-Ei-Fitr, saying this will have negative effects on the economy.
The Federal government had early declared April 9 and 10 as Muslim-Ummah for the successful completion of a month’s spiritual rejuvenation.
Reports says that residents of Anambra capital city believe that the additional day which they did not plan for will result in economic hardship to the citizenry.
Most respondents believe that people had planned to resume their economic activities instead of wasting their time staying at home doing nothing..
Former Chairman, Awka Chamber of Commerce, Chief Felly Akosa, described the additional day to the two days approved earlier as “unfair to the economy of the country as people were unprepared for the additional day.
Akosa said that although it is right for the Muslim faithful to celebrate their holiday after a month-long fasting, the process needs to be carefully planned for in place of the additional rest day which could inhibit business activities.
Chief Damian Okeke-Ogene, National Vice President of Igbo Apex Social Cultural body, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, said the policy would cause huge economic waste as businesses are put on hold,
He advised that, in future, a proper and well planned programme needs to be in place before declaring a public holiday for any celebration that will be national.
“Our economy and other sectors are not very healthy,” and it would, therefore be appropriate to plan well to avoid declarations that will hamper the citizens’ welfare.
Mazi Christian Beluchukwu, a business man in Awka, described the extension of the Eid-El-Fitr public holiday to Thursday, April 11, as an added hardship for the citizenry.
Beluchukwu said that any public holiday for three days, April 9 to 11, to celebrate any feast in the country is an economic loss to the nation.
He said that it was best to stick to the two-day national public holidays as this gives room for the people to plan their activities very well.
He stated that his wife went to a public hospital on Tuesday and was unattended to because there was no doctor on seat to provide medical attention.
“She resorted to visiting a private hospital which cost extra money which the public hospital is expected to handle at a reasonable cost. (NAN)
The Jos Water Services Corporation (JWSC) has said that the World Bank fund received would be used to boost water supply to Bukuru and environs in Jos South Local Government Area.
Mr Apollos Samchi, the Managing Director of the corporation, said that N1.7 billion would be expended on the rehabilitation of water treatment plant, over head steel tank and laying of pipes to homes of consumers.
Samchi, who disclosed this on Friday in Jos, during a two-day capacity building workshop, said that the projects were expected to be completed in four months.
Reports says that the workshop organised for contractors has at its theme: “Implementation of Environmental and Social Management Plans for Projects in Jos South.
The MD said that the projects would ensure steady provision of potable water to residents in Gyel and Kurgiya in Jos South Local Government Area.
He said the treatment plant when rehabilitated would pump out 5,000 cubic litres of water daily.
The MD further stated that the reticulation exercise would cover residents who weren’t initially connected to public water supply in the area.
Samchi said that the essence of the workshop was to ensure that the contractors were trained to develop adequate measures and controls to minimise and mitigate potential environmental and social risks that could adversely affect the project implementation.
He called on all the contractors handling the projects to ensure that they adhered to the environmental and safety standards and deliver within the specified timeframe.
In his remarks, Mr Jonathan Malann, the Plateau Project Coordinator, Sustainable Urban, Rural Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene programme (SURWASH), also advised contractors to adhere to the environmental and safety standards as provided by the World Bank.
The Federal Government had received $700m financing from the World Bank to ensure that all its people have access to sustainable and safely managed WASH services.
The seven participating states are Plateau, Delta, Ekiti, Gombe, Imo, Katsina, and Kaduna.(NAN)
The Gombe State Executive Council (SEC) has approved payment of N389 million as compensation for residents that would be affected by the gully erosion control project at Federal College of Education (FCE) Technical and its surrounding communities.
The Commissioner for Finance, Gombe State, Malam Mohammed Magaji, stated this at the end of the SEC meeting on Friday in Gombe.
Magaji said the payment, which would commence immediately, would be for individuals and organisations along the gully erosion site.
He said almost 1000 persons were expected to benefit from the gesture.
According to him, the compensation is part of the requirements of the World Bank, which specifies that such payments be made to property owners.
Magaji said the payment would also be made to ensure seamless resettlement of affected persons.
“The beneficiaries are in hundreds, almost a 1,000 people; there is compensation for houses, and also for business premises.
“There is also stipends for the elderly living around that area so that they are able to have good livelihood,” he said.
The commissioner for Education, Hajiya Aishatu Maigari, also said the SEC approved upgrade of the five mega senior secondary schools in the state to sustain improvement in the education sector.
Maigari said the upgrade would be carried out based on the needs of each of the schools.
She stated that infrastructure in some of the schools were already being upgraded to global standards.
“We have seen construction of toilets, installation of solar-powered light, construction of roads, school clinics, boreholes and many more,” she said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the state government had on Nov. 23 signed a N12 billion contract with Triacta Nigeria Ltd. for a 21-kilometre gully erosion control work in six communities within Gombe metropolis.
The project is under ACRESAL project, a World Bank-assisted project to address the challenges of land degradation and climate change in northern Nigeria. (NAN)
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