Abstract:
The abundance of oil resources in the heart of Niger Delta, Nigeria, is not
bringing the prosperity for the people. Since crude oil was found in Niger Delta,
many corporations are interested to open their oil industry operations. Seeing this
opportunity, Federal Government of Nigeria is making oil industry operations as
one of the country’s major economics supports. Billion barrels of oil could
produced in the Niger Delta without concerning the future consequences As one
of the best oil productions area in Niger Delta, Ogoniland has become the victim
of all these oil operations for the sake of economics. The oil industry operations
which take place in Ogoniland where many indigenous people live are having
major environmental issue. Since the oil industries never stop on producing as the
demand of oil will always be there, the Ogoniland condition is really
heartbreaking. The oil industries with so many sites of drilling and hundreds of
kilometers of pipelines are operating is not aligned with the awareness of the
corporations to uphold the environment in the surroundings. The negligence has
shown by many occurrences of oil spills in Ogoniland. The oil spills from the oil
industry operations bring harm towards the environment and the wellbeing of the
people of Ogoni. It contaminates their water, land, vegetation, fisheries, and river.
It affects the live of the local people; they do not have proper clean water for daily
use since the groundwater had been contaminated by the oil spill. The
environmental degradation of Ogoni was severe and the health of Ogoni people is
being harmed. In accordance to the huge environmental degradation, the
government could not act alone to tackle the issue without the help from other
stakeholders. As the request, UNEP was being there in Ogoni to assist Nigerian
Government in order to have proper environmental assessment. The assessment
was done by UNEP since they have the capability to tackle environmental issues.
It will be a hope for the people of Ogoni to have the live they deserves as common
human being who have access to clean water, land, and environment. Nigerian
Government believes that the environmental assessment done by UNEP will be
their basis in order to have future plan of Ogoni environmental clean-up.
