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Restoration of the Ecosystem: Ogoni Cleanup and the Mitigation of Social Tensions, 2018–2023

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Heavy metal contamination has gradually become a very much important significant global issue due to its continual existence in the environment and bioaccumulation in the ecosystems, posing deleterious risks to human health. This review aims to investigate the sources, pathways, and toxicological impacts of heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, mercury, and arsenic, elucidating their health consequences and plausible mitigation strategies. Furthermore, the review explores the dual origins of heavy metal contamination; natural geological processes and anthropogenic activities such as industrial emissions, mining, and agricultural practices. These heavy metals sip into soil, water, and food chains, leading to bioaccumulation, bio-magnification and causing significant health risks, including cardiovascular diseases, neurological disorders, and reproductive toxicity. Additionally, the addition of indigenous case studies from Nigeria, such as lead poisoning in Zamfara State and contamination in the Great Kwa River of Cross Rivers State underscores the disproportionate impact of heavy metal pollution in developing nations. These case studies reveal the socio-economic and environmental dimensions of the issue, providing a contextual understanding of region-specific vulnerabilities and health outcomes. To address these problems, the review evaluates already existing mitigation strategies, including chelation therapy and phytoremediation, while proposing sustainable, cost-effective solutions for reducing exposure and mitigating impacts. It emphasizes the importance of integrative approaches involving policy, community engagement, and technological innovations to fight heavy metal contamination effectively. In conclusion, this seminar contributes to the understanding of heavy metal toxicity, giving and showcasing very much important insights into the sources and health implications of contamination. By integrating theoretical perspectives with practical solutions, this review provides a robust framework for informing policy makers and advancing sustainable environmental management practices.
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The purpose of this Report is to describe and quantify renewable and non-renewable resources of the Niger Delta, identify and assess positive and negative factors of resource use, and the review the manner in which they serve and affect local, regional and national interests. This Report includes: Cartographic Definition and Main Features of the Delta, Water Resources, Climate and Air Quality, Geo-Characteristics, Biological Characteristics, Biodiversity Uses and Conservation, Socio-Economic Characteristics, Resource Utilization and Industrialization, Human Health Issues, Impact of Upstream Development Activities, Institutions Legal Controls and Community Concerns, Major Environmental Problems, and Constraints to Sustainable Development.
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The Ogoni are a minority ethnic people who live in the Western Niger Delta Region of southern Nigeria. During the 1970s, Ogoniland, or the Ogoni Nation, became part of the Rivers State of Nigeria. There are approximately 500,000 Ogoni who represent less than 0.05 percent of Nigeria's 100 to 120 million people. The population density of this region equals 1,233 people per square mile, making it one of the most densely populated areas of Nigeria. Reliable information about the origin of the Ogoni is limited. Archaeological and oral historical evidence suggests that the Ogoni have inhabited the area for over 500 years. Presently, two theories exist about the origin of this people. First, the Ogoni may have migrated into their present territory from across the Imo River sometime around the eighteenth or the nineteenth century. Vestiges of this migration are two Ogoni villages, Warife and Utetuk, that still exist at the other side of the river. Warife still speak Khana, whereas Utetuk have adopted the customs and language of Annang, a neighboring tribe in the Akwa Ibom State. When they arrived in the region, the Ogoni did not find this area to be occupied. As a consequence, they were able to keep their identity from their neighbors-the Ibibios in the southeast, the Igbos to the north, the Ikwerres to the west, and the Andoni and Ijaws to the south. According to this theory, the first Ogoni settlement was in the Khana kingdom, followed by Tai, Gokana, and Eleme, respectively. The Ogoni Nation grew from these first settlements. The second theory claims that the Ogoni people came on the trading ships, which often visited Bonny, a small city-state island in the delta. They began to settle in Bonny until their population began to outgrow the little town. This necessitated their migration further inland. Once they arrived at Bonny, the resident Ibani people referred to the new arrivals as the "Igoni" or "strangers." As time passed, the Ibani then became known as the "Ogoni." Today, in Bonny, people say that the Ogoni and the Ibani are "brothers." It is quite possible that Ogoni residence on this island in the delta prevented them from being captured during the slave raids that ravaged the mainland.
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The mangrove forest of the Niger Delta is of high economic value to the local people as well as National Development generally. The mangrove forest is rich in both aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity as such a major source of rural life sustenance in the region as well as plays a vital role in ecosystems stabilization. However, unfortunately, the Mangrove forest in recent times has been subjected to the effects of a growing population, economic and social pressures manifested in the form of rapid urbanization, agricultural land expansion and industrialization. Thus, there is a steady deforestation of the mangrove forest and loss of biodiversity in the region. The mangrove forest is not under any known form of protection and or laws and strategies of biological resource conservation in Nigeria. And even in areas where they seem to exist, they have alienated the knowledge systems and practices of the local people. This paper therefore aims at examining the rate of exploitation of these mangrove resources and the traditional resource management practices of the people, as a strategy for mangrove forest resource conservation in the Niger Delta, Nigeria.Thus, using a simple random sampling technique (use of table of random digits), ten (10) communities from two states of the Niger Delta (Delta & Rivers States) were selected as samples for the study. Also, using mainly primary data generated on the field through the use of structured questionnaire and analysed in percentages, the authors found out as follows: That rural livelihood the area depends on the exploitation of the mangrove resources as such there is over exploitation and rapid loss of these resources; that the mangrove forest is not in any known form of protection; that the local people have an efficient way of protecting and conserving their resources which could be exploited to enhance mangrove resource conservation in the region. Thus, the paper recommends that policy makers and plann ers should enlighten the local people on the dangers of over exploitation and encourage them to strengthen these traditional resource management practices.
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The overwhelming majority of about 69,000 residents in Bodo, Rivers State, Nigeria, engage in subsistence fishing or farming. The mangrove forests and waterways that line Bodo Creek are an integral component of the community's traditional livelihood structures. Two separate oil spills, for which Royal Dutch Shell has now accepted liability, hit Bodo Creek in 2008. We highlight the destructive impact of the oil spills on the environment, water quality, local incomes, employment, livelihood structures and community development with a focus on fishing and its ancillary industries. The lack of oil spill clean-up also enables us to address corporate responsibility for human rights violations and the failure of corporate social responsibility to translate into meaningful action that alleviates the plight of adversely impacted local host communities in oil-producing areas.
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The study shows extensive oil contamination of rivers, creeks, and ground waters in Ogoniland, Nigeria. The levels found in the more contaminated sites are high enough to cause severe impacts on the ecosystem and human health: extractable petroleum hydrocarbons (EPHs) (>10-C40) in surface waters up to 7420 μg L(-1), drinking water wells show up to 42 200 μg L(-1), and benzene up to 9000 μg L(-1), more than 900 times the WHO guidelines. EPH concentrations in sediments were up to 17 900 mg kg(-1). Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons concentrations reached 8.0 mg kg(-1), in the most contaminated sites. The contamination has killed large areas of mangroves. Although the natural conditions for degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons are favorable with high temperatures and relatively high rainfall, the recovery of contaminated areas is prevented due to the chronic character of the contamination. Oil spills of varying magnitude originates from facilities and pipelines; leaks from aging, dilapidated, and abandoned infrastructure; and from spills during transport and artisanal refining of stolen oil under very primitive conditions.
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It is expected that countries with an abundance of natural resources should prosper. Yet over many years, it has been observed that nations rich in oil, gas, or mineral resources have been disadvantaged in the drive for economic progress. The concept of resource curse which refers to the observation that nations with rich endowments of natural resources [oil as in the case of Nigeria] often dramatically under perform economically relative to what one would expect was used in this study. The methods employed in data collection, primarily from secondary sources include; literature review of NNPC publications, national dailies and newsmagazines; internet reports on OPEC, oil production in Nigeria, etc. Descriptive statistic was used in data analysis. The results revealed that the oil wealth was initially well applied towards the development of the country. Overtime, successive governments began to mismanage it and a situation like this had given rise to other contemporary oil nations overtaking Nigeria. The consequence is that the early gains of oil disappeared in the face of declining quality of general infrastructure across the country. The growing reliance of the country on oil and gas alone may undermine the democratic structure-rule of law, political stability [as in the case of militancy in the Niger Delta region], government effectiveness and the fight against corruptionKEYWORDS: Resource curse, Nigeria, Oil and Gas, GDP, Infrastructure, Corruption
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This paper analyses the issue of fiscal federalism in Nigeria from an environmental justice perspective, using the case of the oil-producing Niger Delta region. Within Nigeria, this is the region most affected by oil--certainly in terms of its environmental impact. In spite of this, areas of the country that do not produce petroleum--the majority--derive increasing benefits from financial flows and development consequent on oil production and refining. This situation raises issues of environmental justice. Two conflicting schools of thought have emerged. One, championed by governments and people in the oil-producing area, with the active support of environmental NGOs, argues that considerably more financial resources from oil revenue should be allocated to the area in order to compensate for environmental risk and damage. The cliche´ 'resource control' is commonly associated with this school. The opposing school, made up mainly of the central government and the governments and people of the northern states, asserts that the current level of compensation is adequate. The establishment of environmental justice is impeded by several factors, chief of which is the command nature of federalism in the country.
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Against the background of recent attempts to explain insurgency in the Niger Delta in the context of the “greed” of militant groups, this article argues that insurgency can best be explained by examining the social origins of militant groups. Focusing on the case of the Ijaw of Warri, from among whom the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) emerged, the article seeks to demonstrate that insurgency is the consequence of longstanding experiences of political and social-cultural marginalization. Militant groups emerged as a result of the failure of the state and oil companies to respond to peaceful protests in previous decades.
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The main aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of various health outcomes associated with exposure to environmental risk factors including industrial pollution in selected communities of Nigeria's oil-rich Niger delta area (NDA). The study involved both laboratory experiments and community health surveys using questionnaires and hospital records. A total of 14 air samples, 16 grab soil samples and 18 surface water samples were collected and analyzed for physicochemical parameters including heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) using standard methods. A 77-item questionnaire was administered on randomly selected 349 subjects. A five-year record was collected from health facilities located in the two communities. The laboratory results indicated that the median PAH level at Eleme as compared to Ahoada East was higher than the guideline limit 50 ng/l for surface waters. The mean TSP level at Eleme was higher than the level at Ahoada East and the guideline limit 100 microg/m3. The median PAH level at Eleme was higher than the level at Ahoada East and the guideline limit < 100 ng/m3 for air. The survey results showed that at Eleme air pollution in the community was significantly associated with painful body outgrowths (p = 0.027) and the effect the air contaminants has was significantly associated with respiratory health problem (p = 0.044). At Ahoada East commonly consumed aquatic food was highly significantly associated with painful body outgrowth (p < 0.0001) while use of domestic cooking fuel types was also highly significantly associated with child deformities (p < 0.0001). Hospital records showed high proportions of respiratory disorder among males (3.85%) and females (4.39%) at Eleme as compared to the proportion of respiratory disorder among males (3.68%) and females (4.18%) at Ahoada East. The study shows that industrial communities such as Eleme, which are exposed to higher levels of air pollution, are more predisposed to respiratory morbidities, skin disorders and other related health risks.
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