Start Niger Delta Environmental Cleanup Now, CCND Charges Tinubu

The Coalition for a Cleaned Niger Delta (CCND) has called on President Bola Tinubu to issue an executive order creating a Niger Delta Environmental Project (NDEP) to commence a health and environmental audit as well as a cleanup of the Niger Delta region.
The coalition, which is made up of eminent environmental rights activists, said in a press statement that the proposed project should be devoid of the pitfalls of the ongoing Ogoni Cleanup being executed by HYPREP. The press statement was signed by Nnimmo Bassey, Executive Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) and Otive Igbuzor, Founding Executive Director, African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development.
CCND also called on the President to urgently intervene in the environmental genocide in the Niger Delta that is threatening the existence of the entire region and undercutting the full economic potential of Nigeria.
They said the over 70 years of pollution from petroleum production activities, worsened by a highly compromised environmental regulatory system, had placed Niger Delta among the worst oil and gas polluted regions in the world.
“By the very limited official records of Nigeria’s spill detection body NOSDRA, there were 16,263 oil spills from 2006 to 2023. This accounted for about 823,483 barrels of oil spilt. These figures exclude 5,456 spills for which the spiller companies did not provide NOSDRA with estimates of spilled quantities,” CCND said.
They alluded to the many reports, local and international, on the Niger Delta, which speak of the terrible state of the environment of the region, and called on President Tinubu resolve the issues around it immediately.
“We invite Mr. President to pay a spot visit, along with the relevant ministers and regulators, and possibly the National Security Adviser, to some of the following locations, which are too few as examples of devastation, to see for yourself: Polobubo and Ogulagha in Delta State; Ibeno, Mbo and Ikot Ada Udo in Akwa Ibom State; Awoye in Ondo State; Bille, Obagi and Rumuekpe in Rivers State; and Gbarain/Ekpetiama, Nembe, Aghoro and Otuabagi in Bayelsa State,” the activists said.
They urged the President to keep faith with the several international treaties and conventions on environment and climate change issues by domesticating them.
“A genuine action to clean up the Niger Delta will be an excellent progress report for Nigeria, and particularly for Your Excellency, as the world gathers again at the next Climate Conference, COP 29, in about six months from now,” they said.