Renowned environmentalist Dr. Nnimmo Bassey has raised alarm over the severe pollution crisis in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, calling for urgent climate action and stronger environmental regulation to build a resilient future.
Speaking at the Niger Delta Climate Conference in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, Bassey—recipient of Nigeria’s National Honour of Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR) for Environmental Activism—delivered a keynote address on the theme: Building a Resilient Future: Climate Action and Community Empowerment.
“When we speak of building a resilient future, we must examine the environment we live in,” Bassey said. “The Niger Delta is not just polluted—it is one of the most degraded regions on the planet.”
He referenced various scientific studies and environmental reports that confirm the environmental devastation in the region.
“The United Nations Environment Programme’s Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland in 2021 revealed that in some areas, hydrocarbons had penetrated the soil up to five meters. By the time cleanup efforts began, the pollution had reached depths of ten meters,” Bassey noted.
He also cited a 2023 report by the Bayelsa State Oil and Environment Commission titled An Environmental Genocide: Counting the Human and Environmental Cost of Oil in Bayelsa, Nigeria.
“When we talk about environmental genocide, or ecocide, we’re referring to the intentional and systematic destruction of an environment—exactly what has happened in the Niger Delta over the last 68 years,” he said.
Bassey described the people of the region as “literally the living dead,” owing to the catastrophic health and environmental consequences of oil extraction.
According to him, Bayelsa State alone has lost 40 percent of its mangrove forests, experiences oil spills amounting to 1.5 barrels per capita, and flares around 14 million cubic meters of natural gas daily across 17 facilities.
“This constant flaring releases toxic elements that lead to cancer, respiratory illnesses, and acid rain,” he warned.
He also revealed that chromium levels in groundwater exceed the World Health Organization’s limits by a factor of 1,000, while total petroleum hydrocarbons surpass safe levels by a factor of one million.
“This is not just pollution—it’s an assault on life,” he said.
Highlighting the global climate discourse, Bassey stressed the need for both adaptation and mitigation strategies.
“Adaptation means adjusting to new environmental realities, while mitigation involves preventing or reducing the drivers of climate change,” he explained.
“But our focus shouldn’t be only on carbon in the atmosphere. We must also consider the carbon in the ground that continues to be extracted and burned,” he added.
Bassey underscored that the root of the crisis dates back to the late 1950s, when Nigeria’s first oil wells were drilled at Otuabagi in the Oloibiri oil field.
“Those early wells were abandoned in the 1970s but never decommissioned or cleaned up. To this day, they continue to contaminate the environment,” he said.
He blamed this on lax regulation, which he argued is not accidental but part of a profit-driven system maintained by international oil companies and their Nigerian collaborators.
“Ecocide is not a mistake. It is driven by profit and enabled by weak governance,” Bassey concluded.
