Unraveling the Microbial Functional Genes and Ecophysiological Adaptations in the Petroleum-Polluted Iko River Estuary, Nigeria

This study examines the impact of inadequate urban planning on municipal solid waste management (MSWM) in the Niger Delta Region (NDR) of Nigeria. The continuous migration and high concentration of people, administration and industrial activities in the region with little or no implementation of urban planning procedures during the development of the settlements in the region has contributed to increase the problem of MSWM in the NDR. It is not uncommon to see streets, roads, undeveloped plots of land and drains littered with solid waste in most Niger Delta cities, towns and communities. The data for this research were gathered from field surveys, observations, questionnaires as well as desktop information from published materials. Chi-Square statistical method was used in the analysis of the correlation data. The results show that there is a strong relationship between inadequate waste collection and the existence of unplanned settlements in the region. The study also revealed that indiscriminate waste disposal is strongly linked with the existence of unplanned settlements in the NDR of Nigeria. Therefore, the implementation of urban planning procedures and inclusion of waste management during the building and development of cities, towns and villages in the Niger Delta should be taking as a matter of high priority if cities in the region are to be clean and free from wastes and environmental pollution.

This paper proposes a soft computing system driven by Neural Networks, Fuzzy Logic and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for the prediction of conflict in the Niger Delta (ND) region of Nigeria. Identifying conflicts along the level of severity with which they arise in oil bearing host communities (OBHC) is of primary importance to government and other stakeholders, as the accompanying conflict risks mitigation course administered could be planned based on the level of severity of the conflict situations. The system is implemented using MATLAB and Microsoft Excel running on Microsoft Windows 10 operating system. The data set chosen for classification and experimental simulation is based on a statistical data obtained from a three-year field study of the nine states of the ND region of Nigeria. The average training and testing errors of 0.015514 and 0.053247 were obtained at 50 epochs for the model using a hybrid algorithm. PCA reduced the dimension of the original data set at a Cronbach’s alpha of over 0.8 with a 10-fold cross validation, thereby reducing the computational complexity and inference time of the model. The model predicted the conflict risk with an average accuracy of 92.85% and this compared favourably with domain experts conventional conflict prediction approaches. The result obtained gives a promising conclusion that the model is effective in predicting at high level of accuracy, the degree of conflict and presents a veritable decision support for conflict resolution and mediation agencies and stakeholders.

Crude oil pollution is an endemic environmental problem in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria with background pollution levels greater than the regulatory intervention limit of 5000mg/kg of soil as stipulated in the Environmental Guidelines and Standards for Petroleum Industry in Nigeria (EGASPIN) in most polluted sites. Hence, the essence of this study was to evaluate the extent of damage caused by the pollutant (crude oil hydrocarbons) on the soil physicochemical parameters and microbial communities as well as to determine pollution effects on soil microbial ecosystem services. The soil microbial community composition, diversity, functional genes, and metabolic pathways were studied to evaluate the pollutant effect on soil microbiomes and their ability to utilize petroleum hydrocarbons as carbon and energy sources. Two sites Bodo (N4.620134, 7.282998E) and Ngia-Ama Tombia (N4.9816667; 7.0608333E) were chosen for the study. The America standard testing methods (ASTM International) were used in measuring physicochemical parameters of the soil influencing microbial response and pollutant behavior in the soil environment. Soil pH was measured using a pH meter, total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) using gas chromatography with a mass spectrophotometer (GC-MS), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) (ASTM D5412-93(2017) e1), Heavy metals analysis (ASTM D8404-21), soil texture (ASTM D6913/D6913M-17). Shotgun metagenomic analysis was used to determine microbial community composition, following “DNA extraction”, library preparation (Nextera® DNA Flex Library Prep Kit (Illumina, San Diego, CA), and sequencing using Illuminana NovaSeq® 6000. The results were analyzed using bioinformatics pipelines. The sequences generated were deposited in the European nucleotide Archive (ENA) with project accession number PRJEB53529.

Niger Delta region of Nigeria is a home to many multinational oil companies with different packages of corporate social responsibility (CSR) because of its huge natural resource reserve especially of oil and gas. The CSR packages are designed to address social, economic and environmental concerns of the indigenes of the Niger Delta region, arising from the oil and gas operations of the multinational oil companies. The operational activities of the oil companies over the years have led to the degradation of the Niger Delta environment with consequent loss of livelihood sources, thereby triggering protests and other violent activities in the region. The paper identified and analysed the indices of the components of the CSR (social, economic and environmental components) packages using results-based management framework to determine the impacts of the CSR projects and programmes on the people. The analysis revealed that multinational oil companies release funds from a philanthropic perspective for the execution of some social development projects/programmes, but these projects/programmes do not address the welfare and livelihood needs of the people. This means that the multinational oil companies operating in the region create an illusion of compliance with social development and responsibility rules. The paper linked these unfortunate situations (environmental degradation, insecurity, poverty, unemployment, etc) found in the region today to failure of CSR implementation due to corruption, insincerity and philanthropic approach of the oil companies and regard it as injustice to the people of Niger Delta. It therefore concluded that CSR implementation in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria is a myth and as a result recommended that Multinational oil companies should therefore incorporate the people of the Niger Delta into the oil economy by enlisting household heads into the payroll system of the multinational oil companies as well as engage sincerely in projects that will lead to the development of the region, if protests and other violent activities in the region must stop.
 Key Words: Implementation, Corporate social responsibility, Environmental Resources, Niger Delta, Multinational Oil Companies

New and emerging cases of oil spill incidents are reported almost on a weekly basis in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria with accusations and counter-accusations as to the claims made by interested parties on perceived impacts of the spills on the environment and its associated constituents. This study applied the capabilities offered by the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform to monitor long-term vegetation dynamics as a result of exposure to pollution emanating from crude oil spills in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The capabilities offered by GEE provide a platform for rapid access to big data for the assessment of environmental change, especially in the Niger Delta with its difficult terrain and security concerns. This study considered oil spill incidents in vegetated terrestrial locations in the Niger Delta across ten years. Fifteen locations spread across the region with oil spill incidents identified as large incidents being selected (>50 <5000bbl). Results of the statistical analysis performed on the vegetation indices data generated from GEE suggest that the analysis of long-term vegetation indices using GEE can provide a broad view of the impact of oil spills on vegetation over time if the spills are relatively large or the spills are repetitive. However, when the spills were relatively small, there was no statistically significant variation in the spectral signatures of the vegetation over time. This suggests that for large spills, GEE-derived vegetation indices can be a very useful synoptic tool in monitoring oil spill occurrence and impact on vegetated terrestrial environments in the Niger Delta and elsewhere where environmental accessibility is a challenge.

Climate change is currently an emerging problem in Nigeria. The Niger Delta region presents some vulnerability due to activities of some oil companies. This study provides an assessment of farm households’ perception of climate change and vulnerability in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The data were obtained form 381 households that were randomly selected from 3 States in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The descriptive and Probit regression analytical methods were used. Results showed that only 20.21 percent of the farmers claimed to be adversely affected by climate change in the form of increased temperature, increased rainfall, delayed rainfall and deforestation. Farming households considered themselves vulnerable to climate change due to the nature of their primary occupation and lack of the required capital and skill for income diversification. In order to cope, majority of the respondents have resorted into weather monitoring, crop rotation and mixed farming. Also, results show that vulnerability tends to increase among those farmers that have land kept under fallowing, more livestock land, land problem, land conflict and recently sold land. It was recommended that efforts to sensitize the farmers on climate change and training on appropriate means of weather monitoring are required to reduce the negative effects of climate change, among others. Key words: Climate - change - Vulnerability, perception - Niger Delta

This study utilized the opportunity offered by the donation of science equipment to secondary schools in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to examine the experiences and observations of the end users of such equipment; science students, science teachers as well as the school administrators, on whether or not the science teachers faced challenges putting the equipment to use in laboratory settings while teaching the students. The study involved 42 out of the 50 befitting secondary schools spread across the nine states of the federation that constitute the Niger Delta Region. The respondents were randomly selected from sampled schools according to the proportions of male and males in the sub-groups (students, teachers and principals) this gave a sample size of 1,050 made up of 592 males and 458 females. The design was a survey. Literature review of wide coverage was undertaking. The instrument was a Liker scale with items specific to the research questions. Three research questions guided the study and three null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Rigorous data analysis was carried out using percentages and arithmetic means to address the research questions. To test the hypotheses, t-test statistics was employed. The findings of this study show that there is an overall positive acknowledgement by students, teachers and school principals, irrespective of gender, that science teachers in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria faced identifiable challenges with using the NDDC-donated science equipment to teach science in their secondary schools and gender was of no significant effect on the opinions expressed. In conclusion therefore, Science teachers in Niger Delta Region of Nigeria whose schools benefited from the donation of science equipment by Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, were having challenges in putting the equipment to use in teaching science subjects. Appropriate mitigation strategies were recommended to ameliorate the perceived challenges, including training of teachers in readiness prior to supplying new science equipment to schools, on instrument calibration after the supplies. Deployment of supportive laboratory technical staff to all science schools were also recommended among others.

This study examines the effect of environmental degradation on the inhabitants of Obodo community in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State in the Niger Delta Region (NDR) of Nigeria. The study utilized structured questionnaires that were randomly administered to 105 recipients, of who 80 responded. These respondents represent a cross-section of the stakeholders (oil industry/company workers, farmers, teachers, transporters as well as public servants). The questionnaire consisted of 20 structured questions grouped into two categories to cover various aspect of oil and gas related environmental pollutions. Simple percentages and chi-squared test were employed in analyzing the collected data. The study showed that there were significant relationship between environmental degradation and economic hardship within Obodo community in the NDR of Nigeria. The study recommends that Government and the various oil companies should always take steps to enhance, resuscitate and improve on the environmental related challenges of the communities within the Niger Delta.

The Niger Delta region of Nigeria is richly endowed with both renewable and non-renewable natural resources. It contains 20 billion of Africa's proven 66 billion barrels of oil reserves and more than 3 trillion cubic meters of gas reserves. Oil and gas resources of the Niger Delta account for over 85% of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP), over 95% of the national budget, and over 80% of the nation's wealth. Paradoxically, the Niger Delta remains the poorest region, due largely to the ecologically unfriendly exploitation of oil and gas and state policies that expropriate the indigenous peoples of the Niger Delta of their rights to these natural resources. The ecological devastation occasioned by the activities of oil transnational corporations (TNCs) have rendered farming and fishing useless, previously the main occupations of these rural people. The people of the Niger Delta are deprived of their share of the wealth on which the entire nation depends; they "benefit" only from compensation for incidents of oil pollution. At the same time, occurrences of oil spills in the Niger Delta region have increased. In this article, it is argued that the ecologically unfriendly activities of oil TNCs, and the state's petroleum development policies, lead to poverty in the Niger Delta, and poverty in turn leads to environmental degradation. It is the dynamics of this interconnectedness that we wish to explore.

Data-driven models derived from data science tools have been used to investigate water quality in some parts of the Niger Delta Region (NDR) of Nigeria. 11 communities were affected in this study. 11 water samples obtained from 25 available sources collected from January 2019 to December 2019 include rainwater, surface water and groundwater. These samples were analysed for their physicochemical and bacteriological parameters. The physical characteristics of the water points range from pH of 6.61-7.2, electrical conductivity (EC) of 450-1742 unit, the turbidity of 0.72-13.65 unit, and total dissolved solids (TDS) of 225-794. The chemical scientific dataset generated were subjected to several scientific data models such as principal component analysis (PCA), piper, Pie, Collins, and Schoeller interpretation. There is a piece of evidence that the water resources are potable in sections where Escherichia coli and total coliforms do not exceed the international and regional recommended limits of 0 per 100 ml of the sample. Also, the community water points are good for livestock and excellent for both recreation and irrigation purposes. Possible water contamination sources include faecal pollution from shallow wells and unconfined aquifers. Land use planning, enactment and implementation of environmental laws are necessary for this region to have effective surface water and groundwater resource management.

Review of Micro-Credit and Business Development Programmes in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria

BackgroundMaternal exposure to oil pollution is an important public health concern. However, there is a dearth of literature on the effects of maternal exposure to oil pollution on maternal outcomes in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. This study was therefore designed to determine the effect of maternal exposure to oil pollution on maternal outcomes in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.MethodsProspective cohort study design involving 1720 pregnant women followed from pregnancy to delivery was conducted. The participants were 18–45 years old at a gestational age of less than 17 weeks, who attended randomly selected health facilities in the areas with high exposure and low exposure to oil pollution in the Niger Delta, Nigeria. Data were collected using an interviewer-administered questionnaire and review of medical records from April 2018 to April 2019. Multivariate log-binomial model was used to examine the effect of maternal exposure to oil pollution on the risk of adverse maternal outcomes adjusting for sociodemographic, maternal and lifestyle characteristics.ResultsA total of 1418 women completed the follow-up and were included in the analysis. Women in high exposure areas had a higher incidence of premature rupture of membrane (PROM), caesarean section (CS) and postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) compared to women in areas with low exposure to oil pollution. After adjusting for cofounders, women in high exposure areas also had a higher risk of PROM (ARR = 1.96; 95% CI: 1.24–3.10) and PPH (ARR = 2.12; 95% CI: 1.28–3.36) in Model I–III when compared to women in areas with low exposure to oil pollution. However, pregnancy-induced hypertension and CS had no association with maternal exposure area status to oil pollution.ConclusionWomen in high exposure areas are at a higher risk of PROM and PPH. This calls for policies and intervention toward reducing maternal exposure to oil pollution in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

Objective: To highlight the consequences of increasing road traffic accidents in the Nigerian Niger Delta. Method: Medico legal autopsies were done in 358 cases in a 6-year period covering 1995 to 2000 at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, UPTH, a major referral centre in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Results: Most of the road related deaths came from motorcycle accidents – 53.1%. Car and truck passenger and pillion passengers were at more risk of dying than the drivers and cyclists respectively. The ratio was 3:1 in car and truck users and 2:1 in motorcycle users. The 10 – 49 years age group suffered the greatest setback constituting 66.5% of the victims. The male/female ratio was 1.4:1 and the injuries resulting in most deaths affected the head region – 43.3%. Multiple and limb injuries followed at 27.4% and 20.1% respectively. Up to 22 out of 43 pedestrians died from cars and trucks related accidents with more males involved – 28.15%. Conclusion: Road related deaths have become a major scourge in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Key Words: Road accidents; Death on the road; Niger Delta, Nigeria Orient Journal of Medicine Vol.15(1&2) 2003: 41-44

Urban pollution of riverine ecosystem is a serious concern in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. No biomonitoring tool exists for the routine monitoring of effects of urban pollution on riverine systems within the region. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop and apply a macroinvertebrate‐based multimetric index for assessing water quality condition of impacted urban river systems in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Macroinvertebrate and physicochemical samples were collected from 11 stations in eight river systems. Based on the physicochemical variables, the stations were categorized into three impact categories namely least impacted stations (LIS), moderately impacted stations (MIS) and heavily impacted stations (HIS). Seventy‐seven (77) candidate metrics were tested and only five: Hemiptera abundance, %Coleoptera + Hemiptera, %Chironomidae + Oligochaeta, Evenness index and Logarithm of relative abundance of very large body size (>40–80 mm) were retained and integrated into the final Niger Delta urban multimetric index (MINDU). The validation dataset showed a correspondence of 83.3% between the index result and the physicochemically‐based classification for the LIS and a 75% correspondence for the MIS. A performance of 22.2% was recorded for the HIS. The newly developed MINDU proved useful as a biomonitoring tool in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria and can thus be used by environmental managers and government officials for routine monitoring of rivers and streams subjected to urban pollution.

Chapter 21 - Occurrence and management of toxicity associated with parasitic pathogens in drinking water sources in rural areas in the Niger Delta, Nigeria