EMMANUEL NWELEDUM, Port Harcourt
Environmental stakeholders, traditional rulers, and journalists have called for an immediate and comprehensive cleanup of the Niger Delta, warning that decades of pollution have deepened poverty, fueled conflict, and destroyed livelihoods across the region.
The call was made on Monday during the opening ceremony of the 2026 Correspondents’ Week in Port Harcourt, organized by the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, with the theme, “The Imperatives of Comprehensive Clean-Up of the Niger Delta Environment: Role of the Media.”
The event held at the Presidential Hotel, Port Harcourt, was supported by Renaissance Africa Energy Company, NLNG and Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre.
In his keynote address, environmental activist and Executive Director of Health of Mother Earth Foundation, Dr. Nnimmo Bassey, accused the Federal Government and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) of enabling ecological destruction through regulatory negligence.
Bassey said nearly 70 years of crude oil and gas exploitation had left a legacy of pollution equivalent to one Exxon Valdez spill, or 260,000 barrels of crude oil, spilled annually in the region.
“This has been happening simply because our regulators allow the polluters to literally get away with murder and are more concerned about financial returns than the health and security of the people or environment,” he said.
He described the oil industry’s foundation as colonial, built to prioritize extraction over human and environmental protection, adding that obsolete infrastructure such as wellheads, manifolds, flow stations, and pipelines remain abandoned across the Niger Delta despite legal requirements for proper decommissioning.
“These derelict facilities constitute threats to ecosystems, especially regarding groundwater contamination, soil and air quality. They are time bombs that are not waiting to explode but have already been exploding,” Bassey stated.
Citing the 2021 Santa Barbara Well blowout in Nembe, Bayelsa State, he said industry estimates of under 5,000 barrels spilled contrasted sharply with independent estimates of over 500,000 barrels.
Bassey also accused oil companies and government agencies of blaming spills on sabotage to avoid liability, even when joint investigations pointed to equipment failure.
He condemned the continued gas flaring in the region despite court rulings declaring it illegal, and alleged that multinational firms were restructuring and divesting from onshore assets to evade responsibility for environmental damage.
He urged the government to declare a state of environmental emergency and conduct urgent environmental and health audits.
“With life expectancy at 41 years in the region, we cannot overemphasise the urgent need for the government and oil companies to listen to the people and act on these demands. The time to act is now,” he said.
Chairman of the occasion, King Felix Otuwarikpo, Eze Igbu Upata III of Upata Kingdom, called for a review of the Petroleum Industry Act, saying it unfairly placed responsibility for oil theft and pipeline vandalism on host communities.
The monarch accused insiders in the industry of sponsoring vandalism and said most pipeline leakages were deliberate, “The environment is very key and attention is usually not given to the environment because most of the consequences we suffer at the community level do not happen at the GRA,” he said.
National Vice President of the NUJ, South-South Zone F, Opaka Dokubo, decried the conversion of mangroves into tank farms, saying it had destroyed sources of livelihood and worsened poverty.
“Our mangroves have now been converted to tank farms. The mangroves that put food on the tables of the Niger Delta and trained most of their children through schools have now been converted to tank farms,” he said.
Chairman of the Correspondents’ Chapel, Amaechi Okonkwo, said the Niger Delta remained one of the most environmentally devastated regions in the world despite being the economic backbone of Nigeria. He noted that while the Ogoni cleanup had begun years after the UNEP report, pollution continued to devastate other areas.
“As journalists and media practitioners, we understand that the media occupies a strategic position in shaping public discourse and influencing policy direction. The media must sustain advocacy for environmental protection by drawing attention to ecological challenges facing our communities,” Okonkwo said.
Stakeholders at the event agreed that sustained media coverage was critical to drawing local and international attention to the plight of Niger Delta communities and holding both government and oil companies accountable.
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