Critical Environmental Challenges in the Niger Delta: Exploring Strategic Solutions

Abstract

The Oil industry is the most important sector in the Niger Delta economy while other industries play a minor role only. Consequently, it is not possible to comprehend the environmental crises plaguing the region without paying special attention to the multinational oil companies’ phenomenon, because it particularly salient to the long and terrible record of environmental degradation which has gone on unchecked for over fifty years. The emergence of makeshift refineries as mechanisms of illegal access to oil resources by residents have accentuated the environmental and health problems for the people because the environment is being destroyed daily through Oil spillage and disposal of waste from crude refining across the creeks and waterways. The degradation of the environment from pollution of running waters to rivers and the destruction of farmlands is monumental and catastrophic. Solid waste management, as it appears, is the most pressing environmental challenge faced by urban and rural areas in the region and with the population explosion of the major cities, the problem of solid waste management is assuming alarming proportions. Government have initiated and implemented various policies to address the problems yet, the degradation subsists largely because the policies are not sustainable. Keywords : Environmental Challenges, Niger Delta, Oil Industry, Pollution, Sustainable Policies DOI : 10.7176/DCS/9-7-03 Publication date :July 31 st 2019