HOMEF Trains Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom Oil Communities on Environmental Monitoring
By Ekemini Simon
Niger Delta Communities drawn from Nembe, Town-Brass among others in Bayelsa State and Eastern Obolo in Akwa Ibom State have been trained on how best they can monitor their environment against pollution from extractive industries.
The training which was held in Eket, Akwa Ibom State during the weekend witnessed participants trained on how to understand the issues that should warrant environmental monitoring, the Petroleum Industry Act and Divestment, how to monitor and report environmental issues, advocacy and community organizing and experience sharing among the communities.
The community members which are predominantly fisherfolks complained that their livelihoods have been destroyed due to incessant oil spills and pollution from debris released by extractive industries into their water bodies.
A fisher from Eastern Obolo, Isabella Adasi said besides oil spills killing fishes in the water bodies of their communities, they have suffered high reduction in fish catch due to proliferation of plastics and debris in their water bodies.
She also complained that it is disturbing to community members that their communities who are suffering the brunt of oil and gas pollution are not part of resource beneficiation since NNPC/ NOSL oil and gas company operating in their domain have failed to incorporate the Host Communities Development Trust as prescribed in the Petroleum Industry Act (2021).
On his part, Fubara Blessing of Town-Brass noted that oil spills are a common phenomenon in their locality and they impact on their fishing.
He added ” Besides oil spills, fishing trawlers chase away our fishes through the noise it makes. There are some people who also use chemicals for fishing. We need to monitor them and take action too.
” Also, in the Town-Brass river, more than 50 boats have sank. This causes a lot of havoc. When you put your net, it hooks on it and when you try to drag it, it tears it. One woman had died recently while trying to drag her net.
Earlier, the Project Manager, Communities and Culture, Cadmus Atake-Enade while taking the participants on how to monitor and report environmental issues identified some of the things the community needs to monitor to include; aquatic, animal species, water sources, land, air, fishing practices, occupation and livelihood, social infrastructure, government/ corporate presence in the community.
He said after the monitoring, the community must document environmental challenges observed and activities that have mostly impacted their environment.
Cadmus Atake-Enade charged the community members not to stop at monitoring but also take steps to report.
He said ” Reporting is an essential aspect of any monitoring activity. It affords the opportunities to track the activity and its impacts. It makes an activity visible- draws attention to it. Also, it helps to identify associated risks, and to know the required controls and learning outcomes needed to prevent reoccurrence of failures of an activity. No monitoring exercise is complete without a report of observations and a point of action”.
The Project Manager noted that for a report to be meaningful and useful, data generated must be authentic, correct and must reflect the prevailing situation at the time of reporting.
He said to aid the authenticity of such reports, the environmental monitor must have a baseline knowledge about the marine environment before the pollution,
he must identify what caused the pollution, state the name of the community and landmark and if possible, use GPS, time and date the pollution was observed.
Ateke-,Enade recommended the use of mobile phones to take real time photos and videos.
Taking the participants on advocacy and community organizing, Programme Manager of Fossil Politics, Stephen Oduware said to advocate, it is important the community first identify the issue, diagnose the problem, gather the needed information on why and when the environmental problem happened, who is affected and what needs to be done.
He said after gathering the needed information, communities need to set goals and objectives by asking themselves what they want to achieve by making it specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.
Oduware said after that, communities need to map alliances, targets and opponents which will guide them in networking for their concerns to be addressed.
While calling on the communities to network, he added ” You need to network with the media, Community Based Organizations, Civil society organizations, like minds, the academics like the ones who share the same sentiments with you and other professional bodies especially the ones that are from your communities. That way they will be able to use professional experience to advocate for you.”
Earlier in his presentations, Umo Isuaikoh said it was disheartening that with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act, communities were criminalized for pipeline vandalism through the forfeiture of the three percent operating expenditure whereas in reality the communities would never meet to agree on vandalizing pipelines.
Isuaikoh called for the expungement of this section noting that its provision is insulting to host communities.
He also said that the current divestment going across the Niger Delta does not take into account the communities as a despoiled and polluted environment is left behind.
Isuaikoh called on the communities to speak out and call for restoration before any divestment in any community.