ERA/FOEN Decries Shell’s Slow Response To multiply Spills In Bayelsa

The Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has expressed dismay at Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) slow response to multiple crude oil spills in the Diebu Creek in Peremabiri community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. ERA/FoEN in a statement by the Communication Officer, Elvira Jordan on Sunday, said its position came in the light of a field visit by ERA/FoEN team led by Programme Manager Niger Delta Resource Center, Comrade Alagoa Morris.   The NGO had visited the community with a team of journalists following a save-a-soul call from the community over multiple spills along the Diebu creek. Prior to the visit, the community had informed ERA/FoEN that Shell said a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) was to visit the site of the spill but failed to keep show-up, including the very date ERA/FoEN visited. After two unkempt JIV, the JIV only took place a day after the field visit by ERA/FoEN with Shell sponsored news statements that attributed one of the spills to equipment failure and the other tagged inconclusive. Speaking to the team, the youth president of the community, Benjamin Ebinibo expressed his dissatisfaction over the conduct of Shell and their response to spill issues. According to him, the people of Peremabiri are not known for sabotaging crude oil pipelines and so the leak must have been from faulty Shell equipment. Describing the plight of the women of the community, the Assistant Women Leader of Peremabiri, Favour Morganlamented that the recurring spills in their community, and how it has destroyed their environment and collapsed fishing and farming activities, which is their primary source of livelihood.  On his part, the CDC Chairman of the community, Basil Young narrated the ordeal of the people of Peremabiri, citing issues ranging fromneglect suffered by the community as host community in terms of absence of basic amenities to negative impacts of the current oil spill incidents. Reacting to the spill incident, the Executive Director of ERA/FoEN, Chima Williams said “we have it on record thatthe promise by Shell to visit the Spill site for JIV on 10th and 11th October, 2023 did not happen. Rather, we were duly informed that the JIV took place a day after the field visit by the ERA/FoEN led team; on the 12th October.” According to him, “going to sites and communities of interest with the media by ERA/FoEN is a deliberate strategy to enable stakeholders to come face to face with victims of incidents and get information from primary sources.” Williams further stated that while booming crude oil to prevent spreading on the surface of water is commendable, such actions do not prevent the soluble elements of crude oil to have chemical reaction within the marine ecosystem, adding that this is why effective and prompt clean up should follow booming of crude oil in any marine ecosystem. He called on Shell to take immediate action to clean up and restore the environment around Peremabiri community, and admonished NOSDRA and the Bayelsa State Ministry of Environment to follow up on spill incidents and ensure clean up and compensation matters are affected within a reasonable time frame.

World Food Day: HOMEF Calls For Ban On Nigeria’s GMOs

As Nigeria joins the rest of the World to mark the 2023 World Food Day, the Executive Director Health of Mother Earth Foundation, Nnimmo Bassey, has called on the Federal Government to remove all Genetically Modified Foods from the country’s shelves. World Food Day is an essential international observance held every year to raise awareness about food security and hunger while promoting action to ensure everyone has access to safe, nutritious, and affordable food. Bassey in a statement on Sunday, said one big challenge the country is faced with protecting its food, including water, from the new wave of colonialism that is systematically taking hold of food systems across the globe. According to him, the transnational corporations leverage the current food crises to advance an atrocious agenda to gain control over the world’s food systems. “GMOs are being pushed into our food system without stringent government regulations. People do not know the implications of growing or eating GM foods because the population is not given information on the risks related to the technology. “In Nigeria, approvals for importing GMOs are granted without adequate public notice and proper and independent health and environmental impact assessments. It is improper for our farmers to be given seeds to grow without telling them what they are planting or what eventually will end up on the consumer’s plate.” HOMEF states that marking World Food Day should encourage people, organizations, and governments to unravel the root of hunger and malnutrition, address food injustice, and abuse of farmers’ rights. The day is a reminder of the avoidable fate of millions worldwide who suffer from hunger despite abundant natural and human resources. Bassey, noted that modern agricultural biotechnology directly undermines our pursuit of food sovereignty, posing a threat to our dignity and our fundamental right to refuse foods laden with uncertain health consequences and an agriculture system that stresses our ecosystems.  He further charged Nigerians to be intentional about what is on their plates. “We must not fail as individuals to ensure that what goes into our stomachs is safe. We must demand accountability from regulatory agencies to ensure that food products approved for import are wholesome, meet the dietary requirements of the people, and support the local economy.” HOMEF’s Director of Programme, Joyce Brown, echoed that agroecology can feed the world, cool the planet, and help local farmers adapt to climate change impacts. “Governments worldwide who want to address food insecurity and take meaningful climate action must invest in agroecology – the foundation for a positive transformation of food systems. Agroecology ensures optimum water and other resources use, revives soils and the ability to hold in carbon, uses renewable energy, and promotes shorter food supply chains while making healthy and nutritionally diverse food available to all”. Mariann Bassey-Orovwuje, the Deputy Director of Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria, noted, “Food is a central and integral part of any society, and it creates a connection between our beliefs, ethnicity, and cultural heritage. Food is not just a part of culture; it defines culture.  What we eat and how we eat provides much information about specific cultures. Food, water, and soil are all interconnected and are not commodities. They are a sacred, life-affirming, and central composite of every existing society”. Orovwuje stressed that food and producers must be treated with respect and dignity. She called for policies that celebrate the smallholder farmers who produce over 70% of the food consumed globally. “We need deep-rooted changes in how agriculture is practiced and how the food system is organised and regulated. We need to wean our food system from corporate control and concentration and keep seeds in the hands of small-scale farmers.”

Fossil fuel subsidies surge to record $7trn

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that subsidies on fossil fuel surged to a record $7 trillion in 2022. The Fund in its chart of the week, which focused on climate change, said the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war as governments globally supported consumers and businesses as energy prices spiked. As the world struggles to restrict global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and parts of Asia, Europe and the United States swelter in extreme heat, subsidies for oil, coal and natural gas are costing the equivalent of 7.1 percent of global gross domestic product. The World Meteorological Organization says July was the hottest month on record. Data shows that fossil-fuel subsidies rose by $2 trillion over the past two years as explicit subsidies (undercharging for supply costs) more than doubled to $1.3 trillion. Consuming fossil fuels imposes enormous environmental costs—mostly from local air pollution and damage from global warming. The vast majority of subsidies are implicit, as environmental costs are often not reflected in prices for fossil fuels, especially for coal and diesel. “If governments removed explicit subsidies and imposed corrective taxes, fuel prices would increase. This would lead firms and households to consider environmental costs when making consumption and investment decisions. The result would be cutting global carbon-dioxide emissions significantly, cleaner air, less lung and heart disease, and more fiscal space for governments. “We estimate that scrapping explicit and implicit fossil-fuel subsidies would prevent 1.6 million premature deaths annually, raise government revenues by $4.4 trillion, and put emissions on track toward reaching global warming targets. It would also redistribute income as fuel subsidies benefit rich households more than poor ones. “Yet removing fuel subsidies can be tricky. Governments must design, communicate, and implement reforms clearly and carefully as part of a comprehensive policy package that underscores the benefits. A portion of the increased revenues should be used to compensate vulnerable households for higher energy prices. The remainder could be used to cut taxes on work and investment and fund public goods such as education, healthcare, and clean energy,” the global lender said.