Ogoni oil spills bring death and barrenness

A recent report released by Amnesty International (AI) that babies are twice as likely to die in the first month if their mothers were living near oil spill site before becoming pregnant has raised serious concern in the Ogoni communities of Bodo, B-dere, Kpean, K-dere, Bomu, Ebubu and Bera where oil spillage has destroyed farmlands, […]

A recent report released by Amnesty International (AI) that babies are twice as likely to die in the first month if their mothers were living near oil spill site before becoming pregnant has raised serious concern in the Ogoni communities of Bodo, B-dere, Kpean, K-dere, Bomu, Ebubu and Bera where oil spillage has destroyed farmlands, vegetation, streams and other sources of potable water.

A new study carried out by Amnesty which links environmental pollution with newborn and child mortality rates in the Niger Delta revealed that oil spill occurring within 10 kilometres of a mother’s place of residence doubled neo-natal mortality rates and impaired the health of her surviving children.

Although the Rivers State Government and medical experts are of the opinion that there is no scientific proof that oil spill is responsible for the deaths of newborn babies, as well as infertility in women in the oil-impacted communities, the inhabitants of Ogoni communities who are victims of the pollution, strongly hold the opinion that oil spillage has caused deaths of newborn, loss of pregnancies, as well as various kinds of sicknesses and diseases.

Mary (not real name), a resident of Bomu in Gokana Local Government Area of the state, said she lost her first child and two pregnancies within three years. She said her first child died three weeks after delivery.

“When I had my first pregnancy, it was trouble all through. Within the first three months I bled, and when I visited hospital the first question the doctor asked me was if my house was close to any of the oil spill sites and my answer was in yes.

“Apart from the bleeding, I was having frequent malaria, pains, vomiting and all that. I thought it was the normal pregnancy sickness until I visited the hospital. I was given series of drugs and injections. I had a normal delivery but two weeks later my baby died.

“Shortly after that, I took in again but lost the pregnancy three weeks later. I took in again and also lost the pregnancy, and since then I have not been able to get pregnant.”

Mary said the doctor cautioned her that she might not be able to get pregnant again unless she vacated the polluted environment.

In Ogali, Eleme Local Government Area, a resident, Nnene Ollor, initially attributed the loss of her newborn child to witchcraft until she sought for medical solution.

“When my baby died, I thought that it was the hand work of witches who do not want me to have a child. However, when I visited the hospital, the doctor told me that he suspected the death was caused by oil spill around our environment.

She called on the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) and other relevant authorities to come to their aid by cleaning up all the polluted sites in their community.

In Bodo City, Gokana Local Government Area, Mrs. Theresa Vidume, said she lost three pregnancies within two years.

She said doctor’s reports attributed the loss of her pregnancy to oil pollution.

“Since I had my last child, I have found it very difficult to get pregnant again. Any time I get pregnant I have miscarriage. I don’t know what was responsible for that until I visited hospital and the reports I had pointed to the fact that the losses were not far from oil pollution in our area.

“We drink and eat from contaminated land. Everything you lay your hands on is polluted with oil. Even the river where we fish; you will find out that the fish we eat are contaminated. Our women are losing pregnancies while those that manage to put to bed lose the babies. Some are born with deformities. We need something urgent to be done to remedy this situation,” she said.

Mene Ambassador Vilola Peter-John Lebari, the Chairman of Bodo City Council of Chiefs, said his wife lost her first pregnancy and blamed it on oil spillage.

“My wife lost her first pregnancy. When we went to the hospital I was asked if I was from Bodo because everybody knew how polluted the community is. Of course, I had to move my wife for her to get pregnant.  Late Debari Dee who is from Bodo and my kinsman had a mentally unstable son who was born with one eye and six fingers,” he stated.

“Our people have been drinking from polluted water. I use to treat my borehole every year but the water that comes from it is polluted. I have stopped drinking water from the borehole and resorted to drinking bottled water.

“We are not impressed with whatever they think they are doing to remediate the impact of oil spillage in our community. Shell did not do anything until we took them to court. From the medical point of view, the pollution is responsible for imbecility, stillbirth and deaths in our land,” he noted.

According to him, most people perpetually live on medication because of the polluted environment, pointing out that they depended on other states for food supply.

The Amnesty International report had stated that when spill occurred five years before conception it doubled the neonatal mortality rate from 38 deaths to 76 deaths for every 1,000 births.

Based on a research carried out by Roland Hodler, an Economics Professor from the University of Gallen in Switzerland, he said, “The results from the study are absolutely shocking.”

He stated that by pairing geo referenced data from the Nigerian oil spill monitor which recorded the location of more than 6000 spills between 2005  and 2015 with 2013 national demographic and health survey, he and his colleague, Anna Bruederle, were able to map oil spill locations in relation to neonatal and child mortality rates among the surrounding population.

The report had it that the result was obtained from the analyses of roughly 5040 children born to 2700 mothers in 130 clusters all within 10 kilometres of the closest oil spill.

However, a statement published by the Rivers State Ministry of Health stated that there is no scientific proof that oil spillage causes death of newborn and loss of pregnancy. The statement added that the ministry would carry out a study to verify the claim.

A consultant Gynaecologist and Obstetrician, Dr. Rufus Agbia, said there was no scientific proof to link loss of pregnancy and death of babies to oil spillage.

“All these things are mere speculations until they are scientifically proven. I have seen the Amnesty International report but I don’t know how they arrived at their conclusion. In the medical field, we rely on scientific analyses to prove any case and until this is done, the Amnesty International report is subject to scientific proof,” he said.

Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) recently embarked on training of 400 youths from Bodo City for the UNEP cleanup. The company said it had committed huge sums of money to ensure remediation of all the oil polluted sites of Ogoni land.

HYPREP on its part said it had engaged some companies for the cleanup and that it would soon embark on the cleanup.