The "Mourning" Of the Land as Occasioned by Oil-MineralPollution in the Niger Delta of Nigeria.

Abstract

The converging of world leaders at the United Nations in September 2000, and their signing of the Millennium Declaration with the target of meeting the Millennium Development Goal of „environmental sustainability‟ by 2015, is an indication that the „land‟ is „mourning.‟ This paper investigates the usage of the words לבא, ץרא, and המד in Hosea 4:3, 6 as it relates to environmental chaos in Ancient Israel. It probes the extent to which the eastern Rivers State of the Niger Delta is „mourning.‟ It delineates that there are ecological zones within the Niger Delta region that are contending with detrimental level of Oil-mineral pollution assault at least in the aquatic ecosystem and, most likely, the terrestrial; as there is significant level of oil-mineral pollutant in not only the water samples but also the sediment samples analyzed in this work with the use of Standard Analytical Procedure (Spectrophotometrically). It concludes that , the population groups (including humans and animals) that depend on the affected water to serve their water needs stand highly susceptible to hydrocarbon toxicity, with its varied attendant health and ecological implications. It further submits that המד (total destruction) is inevitable should the region be left to continuous „mourning.‟ Furthermore, the paper submits that could be inevitable should the region be left to continuous “mourning” resulting from Oil-mineral pollution, though not precluding moral laxity which was the case of Ancient Israel.