By Obiabin Onukwugha
Environmental activist and Executive Director of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Rev. Nnimmo Bassey, has called on political leaders and community stakeholders to prioritise environmental justice, accountability and the restoration of polluted communities in the Niger Delta region.
Bassey made the call while delivering a lecture titled “Leadership for Environmental Justice in the Niger Delta” at the eighth graduation ceremony and Annual Leadership Lecture of the Kebetkache Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development (Centre-LSD) Leadership School for the 2025/2026 session in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, last Saturday.
He said decades of oil exploration and production has left many communities in the region struggling with polluted water, damaged farmlands, declining fish stocks, gas flaring and the loss of livelihoods, despite the enormous wealth generated from their natural resources.
Bassey noted that the failure to translate the region’s oil wealth into a decent standard of living for its people shows that environmental pollution is not just an ecological problem, but also an issue of justice, power and accountability.
Bassey said farmers, fishermen and young people continued to bear the consequences of environmental destruction while the benefits of resource extraction often went elsewhere. He described the situation as “an extractive system rooted in colonial and neocolonial practices, adding that responsible leadership must challenge it.”
He urged Nigerians to demand clear environmental protection and restoration plans from presidential and governorship candidates, warning that politicians who failed to address pollution and environmental degradation should not receive electoral support.
“With 240,000 to 260,000 barrels of crude oil spilled annually into the Niger Delta environment and with routine gas flaring ravaging the region for decades, we have it as a key duty to demand all presidential and governorship candidates to clearly state what their focus on the environment would be when elected,” he said.
The HOMEF Executive Director questioned why politicians should continue to receive votes while communities face persistent oil fires and gas eruptions. He cited the prolonged fire at the Ororo-1 oil well off Awoye community in Ondo State, gas eruptions in Bille community in Rivers State, and an uncontrolled crude oil fire at Oil Well 9 in the Ofiomina-Ama Alakiri community of Okrika local government area.
Bassey also stressed that leadership should not be limited to people holding political offices or occupying prominent positions. He highlighted that women organising to protect their communities, young people documenting oil spills and fishermen demanding investigations into polluted waters, were equally demonstrating leadership.
Bassey also noted that women often suffered disproportionately from environmental destruction because of their roles in farming, fishing, water collection and caring for their families, “yet they were frequently excluded from decisions affecting land, energy and natural resources.” He urged leadership institutions to promote women’s participation and give young people and marginalised communities a stronger voice.
On the growing interest in Nigeria’s critical mineral resources, Bassey warned that the energy transition could expose communities to another cycle of environmental destruction if the exploitation of minerals followed the same pattern as oil extraction in the Niger Delta.
He recalled the deaths of children from lead poisoning linked to artisanal gold mining in Zamfara State and raised concerns about fatal mining incidents and other reported cases of illegal mining. He said these incidents highlighted serious gaps in leadership and environmental protection.
Bassey cautioned that Nigeria’s proposed $700 billion memorandum of agreement with the United States on critical minerals should raise concerns if adequate safeguards were not put in place to protect communities and their resources. He insisted that changing from fossil fuels to minerals used in green technologies would not guarantee justice unless communities’ rights, livelihoods and consent were respected.
He also criticised aspects of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), particularly the management of the three per cent allocation from oil companies’ operating expenditure for host community development. He questioned the role of oil companies in appointing members of host community development trust boards and the provisions allowing community funds to be used to repair oil company infrastructure damaged by third parties.
According to him, environmental policies should be judged by their actual impact on communities rather than the promises they contain. He called for stronger government and corporate accountability, proper remediation of polluted areas, restoration of livelihoods and greater community participation in decisions affecting their future.
Addressing the graduands, Bassey urged them to use their leadership training to challenge injustice, defend the rights of vulnerable communities and ensure that development improves people’s lives. “The Niger Delta does not need leaders who merely manage the consequences of injustice. It needs leaders who will work with communities to dismantle the conditions that produce it,” he said.
