Headline

FG Urged To Declare Ecological Emergency In N’Delta As ERA Uncovers Shell’s Toxic Waste Dump Site

Published

4 years ago

October 5, 2021

The Federal Government has been urged to urgently declare ecological emergency in the Niger Delta to address the decades of ecological disaster in the region.

Dr. Godwin Uyi Ojo, Executive Director, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, ERA/FoEN who made the call in a statement made available to INFO DAILY electronically on Tuesday, further called on relevant agencies of the Federal Government especially NOSDRA to immediately investigate an alleged toxic waste dump site by Shell recently uncovered by ERA/FoEN in Kdere, Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State so as to ascertain the level of toxicity and harm to the people, environment, livelihoods and provide appropriate remediation.

The toxic waste dump site was reportedly uncovered by a team of ERA/FoEN Environmental Field Monitors who reportedly visited the Lot 13 and Lot 14 on September 28, 2021 wherein they unearthed Shell’s toxic waste dump site in Kdere community.

According to the statement, some workers of Centennial Development and Investment Limited, the contractor assigned to cleanup and remediate Lot 13, phase 1 batch 1 of the HYPREP delineated cleanup sites had also complained of a powerful stench oozing from the Lot.

The statement disclosed that ERA/FoEN field monitors noticed coloured creamy substances in the soil within the excavated pit.

It further stated that an environmental scientist in the team disclosed that the stench and the colour of the groundwater in the pit are telltale signs that the site could be a toxic waste dump site.

“The excavated area has been cordoned off but despite the possible health and safety implications of working in such deleterious environment as work was still ongoing at the different sections of the site and many of the workers did not have the benefit of protective face masks or other protective gear needed for such harmful site work.

“No one knows when the toxic substance excavated by this cleanup contractor was buried there but fingers are pointing inexorably to shell as the architect of the heinous crime,” the statement stated.

Lamenting the situation, Uyi Ojo condemned Shell’s frequent acts of secret cocktails of toxic chemicals with repugnant smell dumped in Ogoni.

He described the act as a major source of soil contamination and water pollution with serious health hazards, adding that “community folks die off in instalments owing to no fault of theirs but the greed and plunder of an oil company that will not play to the rules but has perfected the art of repeatedly violating the people of Ogoniland and their environment.”

He continues, “What is playing out in the Ogoniland clean up in the uncovering of secret toxic waste dump sites is the lack of transparency and accountability of oil transnational companies’ faulty clean up operations throughout the Niger Delta that have destroyed the environment, reduced livelihoods potential and impoverishment of the people.”

Also airing his view in the statement, Mike Karikpo, Programmes Director, (ERA/FoEN) stated that, “proper evacuation of the hidden cargo of toxic materials from Lot 13 should be conducted by experts and in a transparent manner and involving the relevant government agencies, impacted communities and civil society that are interested in tracking the movement of this likely cargo of death.”

The statement therefore called for the immediate removal of Shell and Prof. Philip Shekwolo from the HYPREP structures and cleanup process, noting that “Shell and its former staff neither have the temperament nor the capacity to act with integrity and sincerity of purpose when it concerns Ogoni environment and the entire Niger Delta.”

The environmental organistion recall in the statement that in 2018, similar substances with heavily offensive odours were discovered at oil well No. 39 in Kdere community, and subsequent laboratory analysis confirmed that the substances were toxic wastes buried there by Shell.

It stated that oil well 39 where the toxic substances were removed in 2018 by Shell was neither cleaned up and compensation paid to persons from the community who suffered any effects on their crop farming, nor their health status medically assessed.

Headline

Zelensky Rules Out Swapping Territory, Calls For ‘Fair Peace’

Published

2 hours ago

August 13, 2025

Editor

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that Ukraine and its allies must work together to pressure Russia into ending its invasion, ahead of talks in Berlin with European leaders and US President Donald Trump.

“Pressure must be exerted on Russia for the sake of a fair peace. We must learn from the experience of Ukraine and our partners to prevent deception on the part of Russia,” Zelensky wrote on social media.

“There are currently no signs that the Russians are preparing to end the war,” he added.

Zelensky is due in Berlin on Wednesday for talks with European leaders and Trump ahead of the US president’s summit with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

The Ukrainian leader said he and his team had held more than 30 conversations with world leaders and high-ranking officials ahead of the talks.

The flurry of diplomatic engagements have been overshadowed by rapid, but so far limited Russian push in the eastern Donetsk region, which the Kremlin claims is part of Russia.

A member of the Ukrainian delegation travelling with Zelensky to Berlin told AFP that the Russian gains around the mining hub of Dobropillia “did not influence” preparation for Wednesday’s talks.

Zelensky conceded one day earlier that Russian forces had advanced by up to 10 kilometres (six miles), but ruled out swapping territory with Moscow as part of any deal with Russia.

AFP

Headline

S’Africa Offers US New Trade Deal To Avoid 30% Tariff

Published

23 hours ago

August 12, 2025

Editor

South Africa will offer a “generous” new trade deal to the United States to avoid 30 percent tariffs, ministers said Tuesday.

Washington on Friday slapped the huge tariff on some South African exports, the highest in sub-Saharan Africa, despite efforts by Pretoria to negotiate a better arrangement to avoid massive job losses.

The ministers did not release details of the new offer but said previously discussed measures to increase imports of US poultry, blueberries, and pork had been finalised.

“When the document is eventually made public, I think you would see it as a very broad, generous and ambitious offer to the United States on trade,” Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen said at a press briefing.

Officials have said the 30 per cent tariff could cost the economy around 30,000 jobs.

“Our goal is to demonstrate that South African exports do not pose a threat to US industries and that our trade relationship is, in fact, complementary,” Trade Minister Parks Tau said.

The United States is South Africa’s third-largest trading partner after the European Union and China.

However, South African exports account for only 0.25 per cent of total US imports and are “therefore not a threat to US production”, Tau said.

Steenhuisen said US diplomats raised issues related to South African domestic policies, which was a “surprise given the fact we thought we were in a trade negotiation”.

The two nations are at odds over a range of policies.

US President Donald Trump has criticised land and employment laws meant to redress racial inequalities that linger 30 years after the end of apartheid.

“Things like expropriation without compensation, things like some of the race laws in the country, are issues that they regard as barriers now to doing trade with South Africa,” he told AFP on the sidelines of the briefing.

“I think we’re seeing some form of a new era now where trade and tariffs are being used to deal with other issues, outside of what would generally be trade concerns,” Steenhuisen said.

Headline

Over 600 Pilgrims Hospitalised After Chlorine Gas Leaked In Iraq

Published

3 days ago

August 10, 2025

Editor

More than 600 pilgrims in Iraq were briefly hospitalised with respiratory problems after inhaling chlorine as the result of a leak at a water treatment station, authorities said on Sunday.

The incident took place overnight on the route between the two Shiite holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, located in the centre and south of Iraq, respectively.

This year, several million Shiite Muslim pilgrims are expected to make their way to Karbala, which houses the shrines of the revered Imam Hussein and his brother Abbas.

There, they will mark the Arbaeen — the 40-day period of mourning during which Shiites commemorate the death of Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.

In a brief statement, Iraq’s health ministry said, “621 cases of asphyxia have been recorded following a chlorine gas leak in Karbala”.

“All have received the necessary care and left the hospital in good health,” it said.

Security forces charged with protecting pilgrims, meanwhile, said the incident had been caused by “a chlorine leak from a water station on the Karbala-Najaf road”.

Much of Iraq’s infrastructure is in disrepair due to decades of conflict and corruption, with adherence to safety standards often lax.

In July, a massive fire at a shopping mall in the eastern city of Kut killed more than 60 people, many of whom suffocated in the toilets, according to authorities.

AFP