Pollution and destruction of the environment is totally unacceptable. The pollution of the Niger Delta region as well as Zamfara state and all other regions where exploration activities are being conducted in violation of human and environmental laws and considerations will be stopped immediately under the New Nigeria Project.
According to Nnimmo Bassey, the world renowned Nigerian environmentalist, oil companies are continually robbing African nations of their oil directly and indirectly and in the process, selling oil at a ‘subsidized price.’ This unrecognized subsidy in oil prices being due to the “not factored costs,” the additional exploitative extractive costs, costs for damages to the African regions from which the oil is exploited, which end up with environmental devastating effects, which Bassey describes as being more expensive to possibly repair and restore than the cost the oil is sold for.
An example of such regions he gives is the Ogoni land in Nigeria where the water above and below ground is seriously contaminated and has high levels of benzene, a cancer causing chemical, but yet the pollution in the region is not addressed by the oil companies, the local government or international organizations like the UN.
Reports have suggested that if a thorough clean-up were to be started today, it will take over 50 years to clean the regions of the Niger-Delta in south of Nigeria. The people in this region have lost their livelihood, but in addition stand at risk of early toxicity related death. But no clean-up has yet started.
The skies too are constantly polluted with gas flaring and the characteristic red night skies of this beautiful region.
Nigeria’s defunct government is so selfish, it cares less about this destruction of not just Nigeria, but the region of the globe. The international oil companies and the Nigerian administrations till date, simply dig in to the profit from the subsidized-by-life oil, while the ecosystem gets irreversibly destroyed.
A Brazilian judge recently ordered oil giant Shell and chemical behemoth BASF to pay $500 million to Brazil. The recent spill in the United states was responded to with large scale action against and by the oil company to clean up and compensate. Whereas Nigeria has had a spill of the equivalent every year for the past 50 years, with no action taken in respect of the affected masses and the environment.
The New Nigeria Project holds big-oil accountable for spills of the past, and establishes proper respect for life and ecological system and enforce safe practices for all current or future oil explorers.
The New Nigerian project also properly ensures community investment by any foreign corporation that does business on Nigerian soil. Real, modern standard, durable projects must be established for the host community.
The New Nigeria project will also consider the enforcement of a 50% of profit local investment policy for all foreign businesses doing business on Nigerian soil.
This situation of extreme inhumanity and greed will be addressed with all seriousness. People will go to jail for these crimes against humanity.