Key points
- Environmental experts and stakeholders have demanded immediate intervention to address persistent environmental pollution in the Niger Delta region.
- The call was made in Port Harcourt on Monday during the opening of the 2026 press week of the Correspondents’ Chapel, Nigeria Union of Journalists.
- Upata Kingdom Traditional Ruler, Eze Felix Otuwarikpo, called for a review of the Petroleum Industry Act regarding pipeline protection responsibilities.
- Stakeholders noted that extensive pollution from oil activities has destroyed traditional livelihoods like fishing and farming, leading to rising crime.
- Media professionals were urged to humanize environmental reportage to better highlight the ecosystem devastation across the region’s creeks and mangroves.
Main Story
Some Environmental Experts in the Niger Delta have called for urgent interventions towards tackling persistent environmental pollution in the region.
The experts spoke at the opening of the 2026 press week of the Correspondents’ Chapel, Nigeria Union of Journalists in Port Harcourt. They stated that persistent pollution of the environment had led to increased crises and destruction of mean of livelihood.
The 2026 Correspondents Chapel press week is with the theme: “The Imperatives of Comprehensive Clean-Up of the Niger Delta Environment: Role of the Media.
The report indicated that decades of crude oil exploration have left the region’s ecosystem severely devastated. The Chairman of the Correspondents’ Chapel, Mr Amaechi Okonkwo, described the situation as a call to action, noting that rivers, land, and forests have suffered extensive pollution that leaves traditional farming and fishing communities struggling with contaminated water and loss of biodiversity.
To address the security aspect of this degradation, traditional leadership called for a legislative review of host community roles, while civil society group representatives linked the regional rise in crime directly to the total loss of sustainable local economic livelihoods.
The Issues
- Section 437 of the PIA penalizes host communities financially for asset sabotage while oil firms rely primarily on external security agencies rather than involving locals in pipeline protection.
- Extensive industrial layout expansion has converted vital mangrove ecosystems, which previously sustained local food security, into corporate tank farms.
- Substandard environmental remediation and delayed clean-up exercises leave rural communities exposed to long-term health hazards and unuseable agricultural land.
What’s Being Said
- “They do not involving the host communities in safeguarding the pipelines and other oil facilities. Host communities should be given responsibility to safeguard the oil pipelines, this will produce a better result,” the Traditional Ruler of Upata Kingdom, Eze Felix Otuwarikpo, said.
- The National Vice President, NUJ, Zone F, Mr Opaka Dokubo, stated that “it is from Niger Delta region that oil and natural gas are extracted to grow the nation’s economy, our lives should be protected.”
- “Crime is increasing because the region has lost her sources of livelihoods, relevant authorities are urged to clean up the Niger delta region from pollution, and alleviate the suffering of the people,” environmental activist Chief Constance Meju urged.
- Correspondents’ Chapel Chairman Mr Amaechi Okonkwo noted that “communities that once depended on fishing and farming for survival now struggle daily with contaminated water, destroyed farmlands, loss of biodiversity and serious health challenges.”
What’s Next
- Journalists across the region’s media chapels will adjust editorial strategies to produce more humanized, investigative features on environmental degradation.
- Host community groups will continue to lobby federal lawmakers for an amendment to the asset repair and liability clauses within the Petroleum Industry Act.
- Environmental rights groups, with support from organizations like the Kebetkache Women Development Centre, will scale up public awareness campaigns on ecosystem restoration.
Bottom Line Persistent ecosystem devastation in the Niger Delta has stripped host communities of farming and fishing livelihoods, prompting urgent calls from regional leaders for a overhaul of oil asset policing laws and an immediate, comprehensive environmental clean-up.
