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CSOs Sensitise Ibeno Communities on Methane Abatement 

CSOs Sensitise Ibeno Communities on Methane Abatement 

 
By Ekemini Simon 

 

Worried over the threats methane poses to the environment, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have sensitized communities in oil-rich Ibeno local government area of Akwa Ibom State on their roles to check the emissions.

 

The sensitisation which held on Friday in Ibeno witnessed Environmental Centre for Oil Spill and Gas flaring (ECOSGF) African Initiative for Transparency Accountability and Responsible Leadership, (AFRITAL), Peace Point Development Foundation (PPDF) with funding made possible by TrustAfrica come together to engage Ibeno community environmental club on how to take action towards ending methane emission. The club has stakeholders drawn from each community in Ibeno local government area.

 

In her remarks, Faustina Peter-kio from ECOSGF noted that the impact from the destruction of the ecosystem is manifesting in a heightened degree through climate change hence the urgent need for the sensitisation.

 

She said that Ibeno which is a community hosting several oil and gas assets coupled with its strategic location at the base of the Atlantic makes the area a fence-line community that could easily be impacted by climate change through sea level rise.

 

 

The Researcher from ECOSGF, Dr. Soberekon Afiesimama noted that methane is emitted through fossil fuel burning especially gas flaring, agricultural production particularly through animal dung and rice cultivation and improper waste management.

 

Afiesimama, who noted that methane emission causes extreme weather conditions explained that methane is a major contributor to the current heatwave in the country.

 

He said that methane is 80 percent more potent in trapping heat than carbon dioxide although it stays shorter in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.

 

 

The Researcher pointed out that methane on its own causes about 40 percent of global heat-related issues and also health related diseases like asthma.

 

 

Offering insight into how methane can be abated, Afiesimama said flared gas if properly captured and utilized for electricity or cooking gas will go a long way in abating methane.

 

He said there is a need for digester to be used in converting dungs to biogas while incinerators can be used to convert waste to electricity.

 

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On his part, the Coordinator of Peace Point Development Foundation, Comrade Umo Isuaikoh charged the participants on the need to desist from indiscriminate waste disposal stressing that it will aggravate the degree of methane within the atmosphere around Ibeno coupled with the fact that many oil companies are already flaring gas within the domain.

 

He called on the communities to explore the provisions of Section 108 of the Petroleum Industry Act to gas flare elimination plan to engage the oil companies and the regulator; Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission to put an end to gas flaring.

 

 

Precious David-Ogaga of African Initiative for Transparency Accountability and Responsible Leadership in his remarks called on the participants to cascade the knowledge obtained from the training. He assured the people of Ibeno that the organisations will not let off in its resolve to support the communities to work towards abating methane emission.

 

 

In his response, the Coordinator of the Ibeno Environmental Club, Chief John Bassey thanked the organisation for the sensitisation. They assured that they will cascade the knowledge from the training and do what they can to abate methane emission into the atmosphere.

 

 

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