Niger Delta expert renews call for world-class Oil labs to fight pollution

Renowned environmental monitor and Chief Operating Officer for Environmental Conservation, Agriculture and Rural Development (ECARD), Alagoa Morris, has called on the Niger Delta states to establish world-standard scientific laboratories to help communities test soil, air and water at reduced costs.

Alagoa Morris in an exclusive interview in Yenagoa said the region’s governments should act either jointly or individually to create the facilities.

“This will make the oil companies and their contractors to take such pollution, cleanup/remediation issues more seriously and our environment would become safer,” he said.

Morris also called on the Federal Government and state interventionist agencies to partner in the venture, adding that the region already possesses the requisite experts, including laboratory scientists and toxicologists.

According to him, the labs would serve not only communities but also researchers, NGOs and lawyers seeking to defend local people in court. “I made that demand as an ERA Field Monitor in 2017 and I still stand by it,” he said.

However, Morris expressed deep frustration with policymakers, arguing that successive administrations at local, state and federal levels have shown inadequate interest in environmental safety and justice.

“If policy makers have been listening to us and implementing some of our recommendations… things would have been better and it would have placed our society in better stead before the committee of states and nations,” he said.

He noted that even Nigeria’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and the defunct Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) were creations of military rule.
“Things have not been better in this regard with civilian administration, sadly,” he added.

Recalling a specific incident in 2017, Morris said he prepared two volumes of selected field reports with photographs at his own expense during a tour of the Niger Delta by former Vice President Yomi Osinbajo. The presentation followed threats by the Niger Delta Avengers.

“I gave out (the reports) for the Presidency and Governor of Bayelsa State,” Morris said. “Sadly, until the then Governor left office till today, there is no response from Creek Haven concerning what I spent money and time to package for government. That was a sad commentary… we do not value our own.”

Morris insisted that politicians cannot pretend to have missed such well-intended recommendations. “They turn a blind eye to well intended recommendations over the years,” he said.