Environmental Rights Action, Friends of the Earth Nigeria

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.

Go to the full interview

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has decried the delay by the National Assembly in the passage into law of the National Tobacco Control Bill. The agency said further delay in the passage of the bill may cost the nation more tobacco-related deaths.

The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which has been signed and ratified by over 168 countries including Nigeria came into force in 2005 and is the first treaty negotiated under the auspices of the World Health Organisation (WHO) to take global action against tobacco-related deaths. The WHO says tobacco-related deaths stand at 5.4 million people annually, and projects this will increase beyond eight million over the next two decades, with the majority of lives lost in developing countries. It, therefore, insists that strong worldwide enforcement and implementation of the FCTC could save 200 million lives by the year 2050.

1st March, 2010

FOREMOST environmental rights advocacy organization in Nigeria, Environmental Rights Action (ERA), has accused the Anglo-Dutch oil and gas major, Shell, of not being a good corporate citizen in the country.

ERA claimed in a statement on Monday that the warning by Shell that Nigeria’s declining oil output will be aggravated if the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) is passed into law was an attempt to frustrate the move by the country to bring sanity into the sector and recover some level of sovereignty in relation to the resource.

The oil majors prefer to perpetrate the existing unfair relationships, remain unaccountable, operate in impunity and evade taxes and public scrutiny. "Shell’s ploy should be disregarded by the Federal Government", ERA said in a statement wired to our correspondent by its Media Officer, Mr. Philip Jakpor

Communiqué Issued at the end of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Annual Retreat of Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria.

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.

Nnimmo Bassey, Executive Director, ERA and Chair, Friends of the Earth International sums up the last two weeks of climate talks in Copenhagen from the backroom deals to rise of the Climate Justice movement.

Early on in the second week of COP15, the cordoned path created for long lines of NGOs seeking entry into the Bella Centre was a crowded mass of people. The cold was setting in, but the people pressed in.

The story was different for the last two days of the COP. The path was desolate and taken over by a carpet of snow. Observers had been barred from entering the venue and the few with possibilities of entry had to contend with long waits as security officials thumbed through sheets with names of those cleared to enter.

A unique court case, brought by four Nigerian victims from Goi-Ogoni, Rivers State, Ikot Ada Udo, Akwa Ibom State and Oruma, Rivers State of Shell oil leaks, in conjunction with Milieudefensie [Friends of the Earth Netherlands], begins on Thursday in the court at The Hague. This is the first time in history that a Dutch company has been brought to trial before a Dutch court for damages occurring abroad.

The Nigerian farmers and fishers, who lost their livelihoods after oil from leaking Shell pipelines streamed over their fields and fishing ponds, are claiming compensation from the Dutch multinational. They also want Shell to clean up the oil which remains in the ground, so that they can fish and farm once again.

In the midst of the global call for the end of gas flaring in Nigeria and numerous shifts of the gas flare out date by oil companis operating in Nigeria, Shell ignited a new gas flare furnace in Gbarantoru community in Bayelsa State, Nigeria at about midnight on the 25th of October, 2009. Due to the seriousness of the act by Shell, ERA made a follow up visit on November 5, 2009 to ascertain the current situation.

Location: Gbarantoru community in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, Nigeria

Shell should not gas us to death  -Bubraye Dakolo

INTRODUCTION

Gbarantoru community is an Ijaw town in Ekpetiama Kingdom of Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. It is located on the outskirts of Yenagoa, the State capital. Shell Petroleum Development Company has been operating in the community for many years. The Gbaran/Ubie Gas Gathering Plant is located here.

HEATING THE AIR, POISONING THE LAND

Shell’s commencement of a new gas flare at a time when the routine gas flaring has received global condemnation, and with the full knowledge that gas flaring is an illegal activity in Nigeria, is seen by the locals as an act of impunity and total disregard for their health. Gas flaring is a major contributor of global warming greenhouse gases. The commence this destructive activity a few weeks from the climate negotiations in Copenhagen indicates Shell’s disregard for the welfare of humanity and our climate.

20-24 Oct. 2009
 
Member groups of Friends of the Earth Africa, representatives of Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) Food Sovereignty Programme and Agrofuels Campaign, civil society groups, development experts, community representatives, farmers, government ministries and agencies, media representatives and consumer rights groups, among others, met in Abuja from 20-24 October 2009 at the conference on AGRA, Land Grabs and Non-Ecological Agriculture.
 
Participants, at the conference, hosted by the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) discussed the challenge posed by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) - an initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation - and the need to build knowledge and resistance to land grabs on the continent and other non-ecological agriculture that threaten African agriculture and food sovereignty.
   

Fire has been raging at the Ojumole Oil Field, Ojumole town, Ugbo Kingdom in Ilaje local government area, Ondo State, Nigeria.

The fire is said to have started on Saturday, 3rd October, 2009, following an "explosion" and is very close to Bowoto Community. The cause is yet to be ascertained. Community folk are being displaced in panic. More details to be published as facts emerge.

Emergency help is needed.