The media has been challenged to escalate reports on the true situation in the Niger Delta in order to attract adequate attention to the plights of the people.
The charge was given by Chief Constance Meju, a veteran journalist and civil society activist at a media training organized by Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre in partnership with the Centre for Gender Equity and Sustainable Development on ‘Environmental Justice Reporting,’ for journalists in the Niger Delta at Visa Karina Hotel, Port Harcourt, 12-13 June.
Chief Meju said issues on the Niger Delta are under reported and disclosed that a team of Amnesty International that visited the state early this year, pointed out that the outside world does not have knowledge of the magnitude of environmental destruction and human rights abuses being perpetrated by the oil companies in Niger Delta communities. She said there is need for the proper stories to be told.
Welcoming participants to the training, Chief Constance Meju commended Kebetkache for always supporting efforts to train journalists, stressing that the organization’s mission is to help ensure a better society.
She lamented that though climate change is seriously affecting Nigerians through flooding, and the descent down south of herders searching for green pastures with attendant security challenges, the federal government has not been serious in addressing the menace.
The executive director of Kebetkache, Dr. Emem Bridget Okon, said the training is aimed at getting the media to intensify reporting on the Niger Delta environment because at this stage, issues of oil extraction and the effect of pollution on the people of the Niger Delta, is critical since the international oil corporations, IOCs, n have left onshore activities and moved offshore.
According to her, that implies that they will now be operating at a level where community people cannot easily reach them, thus running away from remediation and compensation to host communities.
“Now the people that we were holding accountable to remediate and also to pay compensation to those who have suffered the direct impact of oil extraction have gone and said, ‘It is no longer our responsibility’”.
“How do we still hold Shell, Agip, Total and Chevron accountable for the damage that was done and even the federal government; how do we get them to remediate?” she asked.
Chief Emem in her presentation on, ‘Environment and the Niger Delta Challenge’ submitted that all the challenges being experienced in the Niger Delta revolve around the environment stressing, that food insecurity is a challenge because lands have been polluted, and from health issues arising from pollution, people are dying from cancer and HIV and other diseases, further reducing the number of food producers.
Mr Styvn Obodoekwe who took participants through the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, emphasized that abuse and violation of human rights have been taking place in business places, and advised that there should be risk assessment to ensure that security agencies do not cause havoc in oil host communities as government always engages the services of security personnel that infringe on human rights.
The human rights activist called on the Nigerian government to protect her citizens so that human rights are not trampled upon while business operators were advised to respect the laws, customs and human rights in their operations.
Chief Constance Meju in her presentation on ‘Environmental Reporting’ described anvironmental journalism as a specialized area of journalism that focuses on issues related to the environment, climate change, biodiversity, pollution, conservation and sustainable development.
She highlighted issues in the Niger Delta as environmental degradation which leads to poverty, unemployment, militancy, cultism, criminality, heavy military presence, government impunity and non-accountability, lack of respect for host communities by oil companies, health challenges, food theft/food insecurity and yearly flooding.
The media veteran stressed that water pollution is a serious environmental issue impacting not only human health but also wild and aquatic life. She said water pollution occurs when contaminants enter water bodies and these pollutants can originate from various sources and significantly harm life.
Explaining further, the executive director of the Center for Gender Equity and Sustainable Development added that when oil spills occur and industries discharge waste into rivers and seas it has significant impact on the environment, wildlife and human communities.
A 2023 United Nations world water development report, states that 2 billion people or 26 percent of the global population lacks access to safe drinking water, and 3.6 billion people or 46 percent do not have access to safely managed sanitation services.
In a 2023 assessment, the World Health Organization, WHO, identified between 21,000 to 143,000 cholera related deaths worldwide estimating that there are 1.3 to 4.0 million cases of cholera globally each year.
Meju said based on these findings, it is therefore crucial to protect water bodies from deliberate pollution to ensure the health and sustainability of ecosystems and communities that depend on them.
On day-two of the event, the executive director of Olegh Centre for Community Development, Hon Henry Eferegbo while delivering a paper on ‘Understanding the Petroleum Industry Act and the Local Content Act’, noting that there has been no significant progress in the petroleum industry act with regards to developments in the communities, urged host communities to request for their community development plan which should guide all community trust projects under the PIA.
He decried the ploy by traditional rulers and some community leaders who connive with the oil and gas operators by taking themselves and a few cronies to hotels to sign agreements on behalf of the people.
He noted that the PIA has a lot of gaps which need to be addressed especially, as it does not give communities any role to play.
Hon Eferegbo said the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development 2010 came into being for oil host communities to have sense of belonging.
The Development body stipulates that all regulatory authorities, operators, contractors, sub-contractors, alliance partners and other entities involved in a project, operation, activity or transaction in the Nigerian oil and gas industry shall consider Nigerian content as an important element of their overall project development. Secondly, the board shall ensure that the operator or project promoter maintains a reasonable number of personnel from areas it has significant operations.
Eferegbo advised communities to seek, read and understand the contents of the Local Content Act in order to avail themselves of the opportunities therein.
Ambassador Tombari Kote, a respected advocate for protection against gender based violence made a presentation on ‘Reporting Sexual Rights and Gender Based Violence’. He explained gender based violence any harmful act perpetuated against a person’s will and that is based on socially ascribed differences between males and females.
He pointed out that everyday people are experiencing gender based violence which is being swept under the carpet, noting that the persons that are relegated suffer most.
Kote decried a situation where women exchange sex for food.
He advised media practitioners that in reporting sexual based violence, they must raise awareness and promote education about the prevalence, causes and consequences of violation, influence policy and advocacy, hold perpetuators accountable for their actions which can lead to justice for survivors and help prevent future abuses.
Such reports should challenge stigmatization and promote empathy, advance human rights and social justice, providing support and resources which can provide survivors with information about available support services and legal options.
Chief Constance Meju who rounded up the training session with a presentation on ‘Gender Mainstreaming and Inclusion’, disclosed that gender mainstreaming is about consciously promoting gender equality by incorporating consideration for both men and women,boys and girls, in policies across board.
She revealed that the lack of gender sensitivity in the media is evidenced by the failure to eliminate the gender based stereotyping that can be found in public and private, local, national and international media organizations, stating that the continued projection of negative and degrading images of women in media communication must be changed.
Proffering solutions to the existing gender inequality, she said radio stations can amplify women voices by airing female centric programmes, and treating news about women in public leadership space without bias.
On inclusion, the failure to accommodate the needs and desires of all segments of society in policy and programme planning, Meju said women, youths, persons with disability, widows, the elderly and children, are usually disadvantaged in society and often their issues are not properly addressed in governance.
Continuing, she said Nigeria has a population of over 30 million persons with disability yet their issues are very poorly addressed and as such, they are not generally included when developing or executing policies and programmes.
Furthermore, the abuse and neglect of persons with disability and in particular, against persons with cognitive impairment, often goes undetected, unreported, non- investigated, non-persecuted and unpunished.
“People with disability are subject to multiple and aggravated forms of human rights violence including, neglect of their most basic survival related needs”.
As change makers the media, Meju concluded, should develop a gender perspective on all issues of concern to communities, consumers and civil society, and create more awareness on issues of accountability to the people and ensure that the needs of all segments of the society are brought forward for policy makers to act on.
#Make PIA/Local Content Work
#Escalate Reports On Niger Delta Environment
