Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) |
||
For struggle, Solidarity and Socialism in Nigeria |
Committee for a Workers' International
|
|
HomeJoin DSMContact DSMAbout usOur ManifestoStatementsNewspaper of the DSM CampaignsNCPTrade UnionsStudentsWomenInternationalDownloads |
Socialist Democracy November 2004
NIGERIAA Looming Environmental CatastropheBy Tony Lupta
On March 23, 2004, the Obasanjo regime revealed the disastrous effect which the shrinkage of Lake Chad would pose on Nigerians in the Northern region. It revealed that the lake has shrunk from 25,000 sqhm of its original size to 1,500 sqhm which would inevitably turn 27 million residents of its catchments area, including 17.6 million Nigerians into environmental refugees and major industries paralyzed due to inadequate water supply while traditional means of survival of the toiling Nigerians will be adversely affected.
The Sahel region in which the lake is situated has witnessed, in the last 40 years, extensive climatic fluctuations and a continuous decline in annual rainfall as well as shorter and shorter rainy season. For example, in the 15 years spanning (1968-1983), the average annual water yield for all rivers reaching the lake declined by 25%. The phenomenon of global warming which is largely responsible for the climatic changes in this region cannot be marooned from these environmental events.
The environmental chaos unfolding rapidly in Nigeria is unprecedented. Desertification is moving at 0.7km annually. 351,000km2 (38%) of the total landmass of 923,000km2 has been decertified. The shelter belt has utterly disappeared and the world 3rd largest mangrove forest with the most extensive fresh water swamp forest and tropical rainforest characterised by great biological diversity in the Niger Delta region has disappeared by 50%. Most water bodies in the Niger Delta are polluted, occasioned by oil spills from burst pipelines or leakages from fixed and floating oil-producing firm with water around not spared.
A leading public affairs and capitalist analyst who is also known for his extensive research on environmental problem in the Niger Delta has this to say: "the problem is serious in more than one way. Firstly, pollution has affected the ecosystem generally. You can see the forest and mangrove swamps, those areas have been wiped out. Two, it has affected H20 quality. My home is a good example. You sink a borehole and you see evidence of seepage (oil spilled) into the water supply. Thirdly, it has affected the air quality" (Dacosta, VOA News, August 23, 2001).
These problems are visibly enormous. Both land and water are not spared. Due to oil spillage, 1000 people died in the Jesse oil inferno. The infernos at Oviri Court, Egborode, Sagamu where hundreds of people were killed with undesired environmental consequences are still fresh in our minds. Surface temperature has significantly increased with 0.2oC for Calabar and Kano, while Lagos increased from 0.25 to 0.5OC since 1920. In June last year, Maiduguri had a temperature of 46OC.
Speaking at a 2002 annual lecture of "NES", Senator Victor Kassim Oyofo commented sincerely the state of the Nigerian environment. He said: "the desert is moving faster than we can assume. Driving from Maiduguri, one gets to about 50 miles to Kano before you can see a bird flying. Nothing to eat and no places to peach. Youths on the roadside are selling petrol not knowing where it comes from" (The Guardian April 29, 2002).
The oppressed strata are the immediate victims to these anthropogenic-environmental crisis. The cause is the unplanned and unfettered burning of fossil fuel, which leads to global warming by a build-up of green house-gases in the troposphere.
The Shell, Chevron, Mobil, Texaco and other multinational oil corporations have constantly enjoyed the full fledged support of past and present Nigerian regimes. Under Obasanjo the Niger Delta region has been completely militarized, protecting the profits of the oil giants while the state apparatus kills, rapes, destroys and burn down the tattered houses and property of the toiling masses in its bid to maintaining the profits of the oil giants. The Obasanjo regime, like its predecessors, remains incapable of resolving any of the plights of the Niger Delta people. While over $20 trillion has been earned as income from this region since 1956, the level of poverty remains incomparable to many ghettos in Nigeria. Infrastructures and public utilities in the region are at zero level. This has led to various agitations that have led to consistent ethnic strife. In 1966, a young Nigerian grabbed a gun and assembled a few like minds and called for a revolt by the bank of River Nun. The Major Adaka Boro revolution lasted 12 days, before being defeated and his arrest effected. Twenty-nine years after, another Ogoni activist and nine others were executed by the Nigerian government for agitating against dehumanising operation taking place in the region.
The consciousness to agitate cannot be expunged from the people that have been visited with much suffering, with their traditional occupation - fishing and farming - destroyed. A Niger Delta retired schoolteacher, Mr. Diette Lemigbo said, "They (oil companies) do not have regard for our dignity. So they treat us the way they like because the government of the day does not care. …so long it is given its share of the money". (The Guardian, August 20, 2002).
For the masses in Niger Delta and the entire country to enjoy the fruit of proceeds from the oil in the region, the poor masses in the region must unite and work with the masses of other regions to fight and kick out the Nigerian imperialist government and the oil multinationals and replace them with a working peoples' government that will democratically control and manage these resources for a better working and living condition of the Niger Delta people in particular and the entire Nigeria in general a government that will provide free and qualitative education at all levels, free health care, portable water, uninterrupted electricity and jobs for able men and women with allowances for the old and disabled.
Anything short of this will only deepen the looming environmental catastrophe and mass misery, penury and poverty in the midst of plenty for the poor working masses while the ruling class and their multinational friends will continue to grow fat forever and ever.
Socialist Democracy November 2004
|
|
