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Chevron Gas wellhead still on fire

GPS Coordinates: Elev:3m, N 04°21.350’, E 005°46.607’ [about 100 meters away from the flames]
Date of visit: January 24, 2012

ERA/FoEN monitors had to repeat the visit to Chevron’s gas wellhead site in Apoi North that has been on fire since January 16, 2012. The visit was intended to ascertain if Chevron had taken any step to halt the inferno, as well as the effects of the pollutant in on the water which had earlier killed fish in the waters. This second visit was worth the while and efforts.
Our field monitor learnt that the failure of government to compel prompt actions has started generating bad blood among the youth.

Read this field reportView more field reports

Press Release

Nnimmo Bassey and some Right Livelihood Award laureates from around the world, wrote to Norway Government Pension Fund asking them to take action on a matter of grave importance regarding corporate social responsibility and ethical investment of Shell Nigeria in relation to their devastating exploration activities on the Niger Delta environment from which they operate.

Here is a link to the letter.

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Headliners

Nnimmo Bassey's interview with Democracy Now!

Wednesday, 7th December 2011

At Durban Summit, Leading African Activist Calls U.S. Emissions Stance "A Death Sentence for Africa"

click here to view the interview

COP17 Global Day of Action

Sunday, 4th December 2011

Thousands of people marched on the streets of Durban on the 3rd day of December, marking the Global Day of Action for climate action.

The action was carried out by Environmental Activists, social movements, Rights groups and citizens from around the world. The march covered a distance of close to 7 km and passed by the International Conference Centre where close to 200 nations are deliberating on efforts to fight climate change at COP17. They demanded that these negotiators at the UN climate change conference take serious the issues on climate change that is affecting the world already.

Wrong Climate for Damming Rivers

Friday, 2nd December 2011

Google Earth Tour Reveals How a Global Dam Boom Could Worsen the Climate Crisis

International Rivers and Friends of the Earth International have teamed up to create a state-of-the-art Google Earth 3-D tour and video narrated by Nigerian activist Nnimmo Bassey, winner of the prestigious Right Livelihood Award. The production was launched on the first day of the COP 17 climate meeting in Durban. The video and tour allow viewers to explore why dams are not the right answer to climate change, by learning about topics such as reservoir emissions, dam safety, and adaptation while visiting real case studies in Africa, the Himalayas and the Amazon.

Click on this link to watch the video

ERA Trains Journalists on Environmental Reporting in Enugu

Tuesday, 4th October 2011

In continuation of the engagement of journalists on environmental reporting, the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) organised the sixth in its series of training for journalists on environmental reporting funded by VIKES the Finnish Foundation on Media Communication and Development.

The event drew attendance of 13 journalists from both electronic and print media organisations in Enugu State and was facilitated by a team of renowned journalists and environmentalists.

Will Rio + 20 Forget Rio?

Tuesday, 4th October 2011

As the world prepares for Rio+20 summit coming up in June 2012, civil society groups in Nigeria met with government and other interest groups to critically review the stakes.
One of the major outcomes of the Nigerian Major Groups recommendation is that the concept of green economy should not replace sustainable development and advocated for social equity, economic sufficiency as a framework within which to pursue more sustainable production and consumption patterns.

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Oil Politics

Oil Politics is a weekly newspaper column (www.234NEXT.com) in which Nnimmo Bassey rigorously examines issues relating to the extractive industries as well as other pressing socio-economic issues through the filter of justice.

Tell it to the President

The Nation-wide strike in Nigeria against petrol price hike, enters Day Four as this is being written. Nigerians woke up at the dawn of the New Year to learn that price of a litre of petrol had been jerked up by about one hundred and twenty per cent. Petrol now costs 141 Naira and 200 Naira (about one US dollar) per litre in an economy where the minimum wage is 18,000 Naira (about one hundred and ten US dollars). We note that even before the organised labour call out workers on strike, citizens had already hit the streets in protest against what they see as an insensitive and unacceptable action by the government. The response of government to the massive uprising has been rather worrisome. First of all the government presents a face that says there are no options to the move they have made. The speeches by the president and the many presentations by the governor of the Nigerian Central Bank, the ministers of Labour/Productivity, Petroleum Resources, Information and the Minister of Finance, remain persistently paternalistic and convey the message that they do not hear the dissensions across the nation. In moments of dramatic expression, the Minister of Petroleum Resources demonstrated on television how the government’s hands are tied on the matter of fighting the rot in the petroleum sector. It would be interesting to know why the government allows itself to be bound hand and foot by thieves!

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