Congratulationss bto Nnimmo Bassey for the result / reward of his
environmental concerns – for the Nigeria Delta
http://www.rightlivelihood.org/bassey.html
Nnimmo Bassey (Nigeria)
(2010)
Bassey surrounded by
journalists at Copenhagen
climate talks 2009
"...for revealing the full ecological and human horrors of oil
production and for his inspired work to strengthen the environmental
movement in Nigeria and globally."
Nnimmo Bassey's work as Executive Director of Environmental Rights
Action in Nigeria and Chair of Friends of the Earth International has
turned him into one of Africa's leading advocates and campaigners for
the environment and human rights. Indefatigably, Bassey has stood up
against the practices of multinational corporations in his country and
the environmental devastation they leave behind destroying the lives
and ignoring the rights of the local population.
Nnimmo Bassey was born on 11 June 1958. He qualified as an architect
and practiced in the public sector for ten years. He became active on
human rights issues in the 1980s as a member of the Board of Directors
of Nigeria's Civil Liberties Organisation. In 1993, he co-founded
Environmental Rights Action (ERA), a Nigerian advocacy NGO, to deal
with environmental human rights issues in the country.
Environmental Rights Action / Friends of the Earth Nigeria
Environmental Rights Action is also known as Friends of the Earth
Nigeria and is the national chapter of Friends of the Earth
International (FOEI), the world's largest grassroots environmental
network. In 2008, Bassey was elected Chair of Friends of the Earth
International. The organisation, in coordination with its national
chapters and under Bassey's leadership, currently (September 2010) has
six major programme areas: climate justice and energy; food
sovereignty; economic justice; forests and biodiversity; resisting
mining, oil and gas; and water.
Bassey and Environmental Rights Action's major campaigning focus is
oil, and the enormous damage being caused to Nigerian communities and
other countries in the region (Angola, Cameroon, Chad, Republic of the
Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and
Sudan), where oil is produced. He also works on supporting a broad
movement across sub-tropical African countries where new finds of oil
are being made.
Oil spills & gas flaring in the Niger Delta
It has been estimated that spills equivalent to the size of that from
the Exxon Valdez have occurred in the Niger Delta every year over the
past 50 years. Bassey says that there are at least 300 (major and
minor) spills every year. The Nigerian Government has established that
there were more than 3200 spills between 2006 and 2010. Many have not
been cleared up; few lead to compensation payments. Life expectancy in
the Niger Delta is 41 years, compared to 48 years nationally in
Nigeria.
Shell claims that 98% of its spills are caused by theft, vandalism or
sabotage by militants and that it is "committed to cleaning up any
spill as fast as possible as soon as and for whatever reason it
occurs". Environmental Rights Action and the local communities blame
rusting pipes and other deteriorating infrastructure and say that
often companies are slow to respond. Bassey is convinced that the
costs of the oil production are far greater than its benefits so he
demands to "leave the oil in the soil".
Environmental Rights Action has led lawsuits against oil companies on
behalf of many communities in Nigeria for liability for damage to
their people and environment.
Since 1996, Bassey and Environmental Rights Action have led Oilwatch
Africa and since 2006 have led also the global South network, Oilwatch
International, through which they seek to mobilize communities in
Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Congo (Brazzaville), Ghana, and Uganda as
well as South America and South East Asia to resist destructive oil
and gas extraction activities.
In addition to its work on oil spills, Environmental Rights Action has
campaigned against gas flaring, winning a landmark ruling by a
Nigerian High Court in 2005 that gas flaring is unconstitutional,
damages people and the environment, and must stop.
GMOs, biofuels and food sovereignty
The other major area of Environmental Rights Action's work is GMOs
(genetically modified organisms), agrofuels and food sovereignty.
Friends of the Earth organisations in Africa created a regional
campaign in this area in 2004 and Bassey worked as an international
campaigner on GMO issues from 2004-2008. In 2009, field-testing of
genetically modified cassava was introduced in Nigeria, and Bassey now
sees a big risk that African agriculture will be contaminated by
GMOs.
Further activities & outreach
In Nigeria, Environmental Rights Action trains people on environmental
monitoring and gives legal support to communities affected by
environmental damage, with Bassey being directly involved in community
monitoring as well as media training for Nigerian journalists. In
addition, Environmental Rights Action under Bassey's oversight hosts
the secretariat of the Africa Tobacco Control Regional Initiative and
coordinates the Nigerian Tobacco Control Alliance.
In 1998, Environmental Rights Action won the Sophie Prize for its work
on environmental justice, and in 2009 the Bloomberg Award for tobacco
control activism. Bassey was named by TIME magazine as a 2009 Hero of
the Environment. He is a writer of poetry as well as of campaigning
and research documents. One of Bassey's books is entitled Knee Deep in
Crude (2009).
Quotation
"We see frantic efforts being made to stop the spill in the US. But in
Nigeria companies largely ignore their spills, cover them up and
destroy people's livelihood and environments. The Gulf spill can be
seen as a metaphor for what is happening daily in the oilfields of
Nigeria and other parts of Africa."
Nnimmo Bassey quoted in The Observer, UK, May 30, 2010
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