Oil activities cause N160trn devastation in N’Delta – Kuku

LAGOS — The Federal Government, yesterday, said it will cost about N160 trillion ($1 trillion) to restore the environment in the Niger Delta, following the devastation brought upon the region by crude theft, illegal bunkering and oil exploration activities.
Speaking at a conference on Oil Theft and Illegal Bunkering in the Niger Delta, in Lagos, Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, Mr. Kingsley Kuku, said oil theft had attained a worrisome dimension and had become a problem of urgent and strategic national importance.
He said that while several estimates have been made regarding the cost to the national economy in lost revenue and pipeline repair, no one had calculated the cost to the environment and the livelihood of the people of the Niger Delta.

Kuku said: “Its impact on the communities of the Niger Delta, on our environment, our health and our livelihood is even more serious.
“In many communities, fishing and farming are no longer possible because of the damage to the environment on which our people depend for their livelihood.
“No one has calculated the cost of restoring the environment. But extrapolating from the cost of restoring aquatic life in the Gulf of Mexico, following the BP Gulf Coast spill of 2010, the cost to the Niger Delta will amount to more than $1 trillion.”
Perpetrators feared
He added that the incidence of illegal oil activities was attaining a dangerous trend and was already undermining social structures, noting that if allowed to fester, it could turn the Niger Delta into a gang land, as perpetrators of the crimes are feared, revered and commended in some communities.
Kuku said: “Like most illegal economic activities, it hardly takes time before arms, drugs, gangs and other anti-social activities become part of the deadly mix.
“I am not sure we are there yet. But if we, the community leaders of the Niger Delta, and governments at all levels do not act decisively, we will unfortunately get there soon.”