The government of Nigeria has set up an organisation to clean up pollution resulting from the oil industry in the Niger delta.
An Environment Minister, Ime Okopido, was quoted as saying that a large part of the region has been turned into an "environmentally-barren wasteland".
He also announced that the government and oil companies would jointly finance the clean-up operations through a special fund.
A senior manager at one of the oil companies Mobil Nigeria was reported as confirming that the industry would contribute an unspecified some of money to the fund.

Govt blames oil firms for Niger Delta crisis
From the Guardian, Lagos
Friday, 22 October 1999

THE Federal Government has blamed the restive situation in the Niger Delta on what it called "heinous environmental crimes" of multinational oil companies. It also traced the killing of Ken Saro Wiwa and other activists to the activities of the oil companies.
Minister of State for Environment, Dr. Ime Okopido, who made government's position known yesterday, outlined stringent conditions for oil firms in the Niger Delta and gave the firms a six-week ultimatum to clean up the communities.
At the inauguration of the forum on cleaning of the Niger Delta at the Federal Secretariat Complex, Abuja, Okopido criticised the multinational companies for what he called "breach of good environmental management."
Blaming what he described as "pathetic environmental" situation in the Niger Delta on the exploration activities of the oil companies, Okopido said: "Over the past decades, the Niger Delta terrain has been overrun through deliberate over-exploitation carried out in total disregard of the basic principles of sustainable environmental management."
On the extent of damage caused by the oil firms, the minister said: "From available information, close to 4,000 oil wells have so far been drilled in the Niger Delta and offshore areas since 1937," adding that the 4,000 sites constitute potentially polluted sites at which drilling wastes, drill cuttings, oily sludges and various toxic hazardous chemicals have been disposed."
The minister observed that "the patience of the people have been tried to the limit. Their mild protests and agitations for compensation and better environmental management/accounting were rebuffed. Opinion leaders were jailed. A few were murdered, with the implicit support of the major operators who should have shown understanding of their plight."
According to the minister, the Federal Government wants the oil companies to:

a.. carry out a proper identification and articulation of the oil-provoked environmental problems of the Niger Delta;
b.. prepare a master plan and strategies for the remediation of the impacts of the identified problems;
c.. restore the ecosystems to their pristine conditions;
d.. adopt poverty alleviation measures that will help win over the support and confidence of the Niger Delta people; and
e.. adopt good housekeeping practices to minimize environmental pollution in the future.

The minister announced the immediate establishment of "clean up" fund, which, he said, would be closely monitored by the Federal Government.
He also disclosed that the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) had been merged with the Environment Ministry. The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) was hitherto under the defunct petroleum ministry. He urged the firms to contribute to the clean up fund.
Responding, the representative of the oil companies, Chief Femi Olagbende of Mobil Oil Unlimited, announced that the oil companies had earmarked $8 million to effect environmental index mapping and Niger Delta environmental survey.
Representatives of virtually all leading oil companies were present at the event.

Compliments of the Sierra Club's Human Rights List, October 22, 1999

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