Nigeria braces for Environmental Disaster as Shell OIL SPILL of 1.70 million gallons approaches country’s shoreline
Special to USAfricaonline.com, the USAfrica-powered e-groups of Nigeria360, UNNalumni, CLASSmagazine & PhotoWorks.TV
As the citizens of Africa’s most populous country entered the festive season of Christmas 2011, some of Nigeria’s Atlantic coastline communities are going to deal with the harsh impact of the Shell Oil spill of about 1.70 million gallons.
Shell’s country chair in Nigeria, Mutiu Sunmonu has said that “Since Tuesday (December 20, 2011), when we became aware of this regrettable leak at our Bonga offshore facility, substantial progress has been made in mitigating the consequences.”
Shell’s website announced that the spill came from a leak and failure of an export line during transfer of oil from a floating storage facility to a cargo tanker. The spill by Shell is conservatively projected by Shell to have affected about 115 miles (185 kilometers) near the coastline.
But SkyTruth, a global group which promotes environmental awareness and protection with remote sensing and digital mapping technology said on their website, from what USAfricaonline.com referenced that “Based on the size of the oil slick on satellite images yesterday, and photos of parts of the slick released by Shell along with statements made on their website (scroll down to read the comments), we think that the spill may be near the high end of Shell’s public estimate….” Shell says it is making major efforts to contain and clean
the spill.
Since 1958, Nigeria has faced decades of environmental degradation and destruction of more than 30 communities through oil leaks/wastes of more than a whopping 450 million gallons and unmanaged pollution of mainly the Niger Delta areas, as a primary consequence of the exploration activities of Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron and the minor but illegal, local breaking of oil pipelines.
Those facts and implications were, critically, placed in historical context in the October 19, 1998 exclusive USAfricaonline.com insight titled: OIL in NIGERIA: Liquid Gold or Petro-Dollars Curse? by USAfrica Founder & Publisher Chido Nwangwu.
https://usafricaonline.com/2011/12/23/oil-in-nigeria-liquid-gold-or-petro-dollars-curse-by-chido-nwangwu-usafrica/
https://usafricaonline.com/chido.petrogas.html
USAfrica news index and reports over the past 20 years -up to December 23, 2011 – show that Shell has come under attack by some members of Nigeria’s national assembly, the Nigerian human rights and environmental groups who say this spillage, although the worst in Nigeria in 13 years, reflects a pattern of lack of full responsibility for the well-being of oil producing communities on the part of Shell.
https://usafricaonline.com/2011/12/23/oil-in-nigeria-liquid-gold-or-petro-dollars-curse-by-chido-nwangwu-usafrica/
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Nigeria’s Federal Republic of Insecurity. By Chido Nwangwu, Publisher of USAfrica & USAfricaonline.com, based in Houston. https://usafricaonline.com/2011/12/17/nigeria-federal-republic-of-insecurity-by-chido-nwangwu/
Summary: IF any of the Nigerian President’s 100 advisers has the polite courage for the extraordinary task of reminding His Excellency of his foremost, sworn, constitutional obligation to the national interest about security and safety of Nigerians and all who sojourn in Nigeria, please whisper clearly to Mr. President that I said, respectfully: Nigerians, at home and abroad, are still concerned and afraid for living in what I call Nigeria’s Federal Republic of Insecurity! FULL text of commentary at USAfricaonline.com
https://usafricaonline.com/2011/12/17/nigeria-federal-republic-of-insecurity-by-chido-nwangwu/
