Hero of the Environment Nnimmo Bassey:
“First Nigeria, now South Sudan: fatal consequences for Africa from oil’s pollution of continent’s water”
The situation in Africa is truly worrisome. What is even more troubling is that,
despite reports like the attached “Oil pollution’s killing of South Sudan”, actions are
not being taken to address oil’s dumping of its wastes into the continent’s
water and on to its land.
Nigeria’s pollution debacle continues. Thousands of barrels of ‘produced
water’ – laden with heavy metals and other poisons – are being dumped daily
into the environs of the oil fields located in the Niger Delta in Nigeria.
People are dying because of this. Life expectancy stands at a mere 41
years in the region – the lowest in the country.
And now the same thing is taking place in South Sudan, which, thanks to oil
wastes, has the fourth highest rate of water pollution-caused fatalities in the
world.
A good place to start would be the taking of urgently-need measures to stop
wastes from getting into surface and ground water situation in and around oil
fields and nearby communities. Any delay will simply compound the disaster.