Given the age-long travails and aspirations of the oil producing communities of the Niger Delta, we see the recent judgment of the Federal High Court, Asaba, on an oil spill dispute, ordering the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to pay N15.4 billion damages to the Ejama-Ebubu community in Rivers State, as a most salutary development. For over 40 years, the Ejama-Ebubu community in Tai Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State had endured the agonies of oil spills without any compensation from Shell, before it went to court nine years ago to demand redress. The oil giant has indicated its decision to appeal against the judgement.

(Independent Newspapers)Failure of Zamfara State government to enforce strict environmental regulation on solid mineral extraction and its disappointing performance in providing basic social amenities and employment to local communities are directly responsible for recent deaths resulting from mining sites and several communities, the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has stated.

(All Voices) OVER 10,000 citizens, including women and children, in the Edo State axis of the Niger Delta, have been cut-off from the source of their drinking water following an oil spill which occurred at a facility belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

The development is currently causing serious concern in the environmental rights community in the volatile oil region.

Already, the country's foremost environmental rights advocacy platform, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) is pressing the Federal Government to compel the NNPC to clean up the Akhiaba River in Edo State, polluted by the corporation’s facility and compensate two communities impacted by the spill.

One of Time Magazine’s Heroes of the Environment 2009, Nnimmo Bassey is a modern day revolutionary, who speaks of the resistance and the defence of human rights in the same breath. The intersection between human rights and environmental rights is fundamental for him and, in this exclusive interview, the Friends of the Earth chair talks about the situation in the Niger Delta.

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The Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) at its Annual General Meeting and Retreat held in Oghara, Delta State from February 8 to 12 , evaluated current events in the country and globally as they relate to environmental justice and climate change.

The meeting attended by ERA/FoEN Board, Management, Staff, community campaigners on the platform of Host Communities Network (HoCoN), students and volunteers, expressed dissatisfaction over the state of the Nigerian environment.