The National Assembly may slam stiffer penalty on oil spillage offenders as the Senate President, Senator David Mark bemoaned the indiscriminate degradation of Niger/Delta area by oil companies. He expressed his displeasure over the poor attitude of some oil companies in the environment at the public presentation of a book, “Remaking the Niger Delta: Challenges and Opportunities” written by the Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Niger Delta and Chairman, Presidential Amnesty programme, Mr. Kingsley Kuku in Lagos on Friday. Mark, who was represented by the Vice Chairman Senate Committee on Niger/Delta, Senator Nurudeen said that oil spillage and environmental pollution was unchecked because the country lacked the enabling law to fight the excesses of the oil companies. He said that oil spillage offence in Nigeria attracted compensation of a meagre sum of N1 million, which according to him, is shameful compared to the damage spillage could cause on the ecology and human lives in such communities. He lamented how the country had unleashed serious environmental degradation on Niger/Delta in the name of oil production in the last 50 years without effective law to prosecute the perpetrators, majorly the oil companies. According to him, 13 million barrel of oil spillage had been put on Niger/Delta in the last 50 years with over 250, 000 of the spillage deposited annually on the once arable land of Nigerians living in the area. “This is equivalent to Alaska spill in United States, which attracted billion dollars compensation and regarded as the worst in the whole world. Niger/Delta suffers for this every year with no strong legislation to fight this anomaly,” he said. While describing the incessant spillage as very irresponsible, the senate president said if an oil company in Brazil could pay $4 million to Brazilian Government as compensation over spillage, there is no reason why Nigeria should not put stiffer penalty on spillages. He said, “many of the offenders cannot be brought to book in Nigeria because there is no enabling law to prosecute them. Our oil has special quality, but our people suffer serious environmental degradation.” Speaking on the book, the author, Kingsley Kuku stated that the manuscript was developed to sustain the good work of amnesty programme that was initiated by the former and Late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and his former deputy, the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan.
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