Experts make infertility, early menopause claims Monarch
cries for help Govt aware of unusual births but yet to make conclusion —Rivers
Commissioner for Health WHEN the Special Adviser to the President on Niger
Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, Brigadier
General Paul Boroh (retd,) in an interview with this reporter, July, in the
heat of the bombing of oil pipelines by militants, disclosed that women were
delivering deformed babies and turning barren in the region because of oil
pollution, his submission looked incredible. But he was serious.
Meanwhile, he could not place his finger on the affected
area. His position was that of a government official advancing reasons
militants should stop bombing oil facilities because of the damage to the
environment and health of the people.
Investigation on medical changes as a result of oil
pollution hit a blank wall in Delta State. The situation was not too clear in
Bayelsa although there was an unsubstantiated occurrence in one of the riverine
communities in the state. However, Nigerian architect and environmental
activist, Rev Nnimmo Bassey, indicated, when contacted, that he had heard about
such development somewhere in Ogoniland, Rivers State, but did not have the
details.
A Sunday Vanguard reporter in Port Harcourt, Rivers State,
capital Davies Iheamnachor, who corroborated Bassey’s claim, said he suspected
the development would be around Bodo City and environs in Gokana local
government area, but was also not certain. Thus began the journey to Bodo ,
where the Federal Government incidentally flagged off the much awaited clean-up
of Ogoniland, on Thursday, September 15.
Under normal circumstances, a journey from Port Harcourt to
Bodo is 30 minutes, but the journey that day took more than two hours because
of bad road. Bodo, a predominant community in Ogoniland, whose ancestors
allegedly migrated from Ghana, has about 35 villages with about 62,000
inhabitants. It harbors and admixture of Ibibio, Igbo and Hausa-speaking people
and the life of the people revolves around fishing and farming.
The town looked very quiet and, with aluminum zinc roofing
in almost all the houses, one could not immediately associate deficiencies with
the people until they tell their stories. It is easy to know a visitor and the
villagers know themselves. They fixed their eyes on this reporter and his local
guide throughout his visit. A resident, Mr. Cyril Nweke, who spoke dejectedly,
said: “We thought our problem was over when the Shell Petroleum Development
Company, SPDC, paid an out of court settlement of $55 million to the people for
oil spillage that devastated their environment and means of livelihood in 2008.
Some people rebuilt their houses, built new fish ponds and all that,” he said.
The United Nations Environmental Programme, UNEP,
commissioned by the Federal Government in its report on Ogoniland, and released
August, 2011, stated emphatically that the only source of drinking water for
the people had been contaminated and they should no longer drink it, not even
rain water or eat fish from the river. “Everyone who has consumed water from
contaminated sources should be requested to undertake a comprehensive medical examination
by physicians knowledgeable about the possible adverse health effects of the
hydrocarbons detected,” the report added.
“It is clear from UNEP’s field observations and scientific
investigations that oil contamination in Ogoniland is widespread and severely
impacting many components of the environment. The Ogoni people live with this
pollution every minute of every day, 365 days a year. “Since life expectancy in
Nigeria is less than 50 years, it is a fair assumption that many members of the
current Ogoniland community have lived with chronic oil pollution throughout
their lives.
Children born in Ogoniland soon sense oil pollution as the
odour of hydrocarbons pervades the air day in, day out. Oil continues to spill
from periodic pipeline fractures and the illegal practice of artisanal
refining, contaminating creeks and soil, staining and killing vegetation and
seeping metres deep into ground, polluting water tables.”
On public health monitoring, UNEP strongly recommended: “A
public health registry should be established for the entire Ogoniland
population in order to track health trends and take proactive action
individually and/or collectively where impacts relating to long-term exposure
to hydrocarbon pollution are evident. “ “UNEP observed some communities
experiencing extraordinarily high exposures to petroleum. In addition to the
recommended health registry, a cohort registry of these exposed individuals
would allow for a better and more extensive study than was possible given
UNEP’s scope of work.
“Such a cohort registry would list individuals who live in
the highly exposed communities and provide the infrastructure to study the
health status of cohort members. Ideally, a standardized health service system
would be established for the cohort for the purpose of implementing the health
status assessments.”
Social Action, a non-governmental organization based in
Rivers State , in a publication, ‘Still Polluted’ in 2014, echoed the UNEP
report, saying: “Of immediate concern, community members at NisisokenOgale are
drinking water from wells that is contaminated with benzene, a known
carcinogen, at levels over 900 times above World Health Organization, WHO,
guideline.
The report states that this contamination warrants emergency
action ahead of all other remediation effects. Since the UNEP report
recommending several measures to be taken by government, federal and state, oil
companies and the people themselves, nothing concrete has been done, five years
after, to address the problem, except for the setting up of Hydrocarbon
Pollution Restoration Project, HYPREP, by former President Goodluck Jonathan
administration, which cleaned up nothing and the most recent flag-off of Ogoni
clean-up in Bodo by President Muhammadu government on June 2.
Medical alterations
Latest findings by Sunday Vanguard indicated that the people
of Bodo, Bomu, Kpe, B-Dere and K-Dere and other Ogoni communities in Gokana
local government have been struck by bizarre afflictions ranging from stunted
growth, abnormal deliveries, increased male infertility, early menopause in
women to various skin rashes, which have caused medical changes in their lives
because of government lackadaisical attitude to the health challenges pointed
out by UNEP. Investigation showed that the villagers, who traced the worrisome
distortions to oil spillage, were gripped with fear of death, as life
expectancy has reduced from 50 years to between 40 and 45 years, especially in
Bodo community.
We‘ve observed some cases but no scientific study yet
—Commissioner
The state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Theophilus Odagme,
when he spoke to Sunday Vanguard about three weeks ago in Port Harcourt, the
state capital, said there had been deformities in babies born in Bodo and some
other Ogoni communities in recent months. But, he was quick to point out that
until a study is conducted, the state Ministry of Health was not in a position
to link the health challenges to exploitation of the environment by oil
companies.
Weird cases
Odagme, nevertheless, revealed: “In one of the hospitals in
Bori within the last eight months, they had three abnormal babies. One of the
babies, born on August 27, 2016, had tiny head that is not compatible with
life; the anomaly is called anencephaly. “In April 2016, another baby was born
with omphalocele. The abdominal wall is not well developed, so you see all the
internal organs outside. We also had another one with a very big head,
hydrophilic, in December 2015. So it is possible that we may be having more, so
we need to do a study. The children died after birth. “I have spoken with a
number of doctors and midwives in the area, as well as specialists in a
teaching hospital. We have now agreed that we need to do a study because there
has been increase in the recent past reporting on the cases of children born with
different form of anomalies in the area.
“But can we say it is as a result of the oil exploration and
exploitation? We cannot say that. We need to establish that. There have been
some observations in some quarters, not just only in Bodo. We would need to do
a study that is sponsored, you can call it an audit that may be for about five
years back, a retrospective review of congenital anomaly in children born in
that area. While Odagme is resolute in doing a health audit, the frequency of
congenital anomalies in children born in the area and other weird sicknesses is
escalating.
To the women of Bodo, Bomu, Kpe, B-Dere and K-Dere
communities suffering the pains and non-governmental organizations working on
the health challenges, government is taking too much time to do the audit.
Doctor told me oil spill caused the problem – Mrs. Yaatabu
One of the affected women in Bodo, Mrs. Agnes Yaatabu,
narrated her story: “I was four months pregnant when my baby flushed out. I was
disturbed about the miscarriage; so I went to hospital. When I got there, the
doctor conducted a test and told me that the cause was oil spill that has
remained in our environment for a long time now. “It is true that the spill is
affecting our women.
After that experience, I have not been pregnant again
because I am afraid that if I get pregnant again, the baby will flush out
because the doctor said the oil has damaged some cells in my body. “I have not
received good treatment ever since because I do not have money. I have two
children before this thing started; many women in our community do not have
monthly ovulation and menstruation again”.
My seven-year-old child still crawling – Mrs Friday
Another Bodo resident, Mrs. Baribeop Friday, said: “I have
had miscarriage three times. When I started having this experience, the only
child that survived for seven years now cannot stand on his feet. His legs are
damaged and the doctor told me that the problem is because of the oil deposit
in our community. “Since the child was born, it has been miscarriages.
It is more than seven years now since I started having this
experience. I do not have money to go for treatment. We want government and oil
companies to come and help women in this community. Some of us are not seeing
our monthly flow again. Some give birth to deformed children. The situation is
pathetic. I want government to tell the oil companies that have done this
damage to us to come to our rescue.
They should bring a good health facility to us even as they
clean up the environment because our lives are in danger.” Eunice Goni, also
from the village, said, “Since we started having oil spillage here, my sight
has been affected. I cannot see well again. As I talk with you now, I have
chest pain because they said the polluted environment has also affected my
lungs.” It was learnt that Goni also delivered a deformed baby, who died three
days after birth. “The truth is that she is ashamed of sharing the experience
with anybody,”one of the villagers told Sunday Vanguard.
Doctor said crude oil damaged our bodies- Janet, Berebon
A Bodo woman, Janet Baakem, claimed the polluted environment
stopped her menstrual flow. Her words: “My period is not coming again. I was
seeing it before but the thing stopped. I went to hospital because it was
strange. After test, the doctor told me that something is wrong with my body
system. He said that the problem is from crude oil spill. So, there is danger
in our community”.
A fellow villagers, Mrs. Easter Barisi Berebon, said: “I am
affected too. I have the same problem, which many women in this community are
having. Recently, I lost a six month-old pregnancy. I am still not medically
okay now. I went to doctor after the miscarriage who told me that crude oil has
affected my body system. “I prefer to be certified medically fit before I
conceive again so that I may not give birth to a deformed baby.”
He was not born like this- Legidom Baridon
Mr. Legidom Baridon, step father of 30-year-old Tombari
Baridon-Legidon, a cripple, said: “The cause of his health problem is related to
oil in our river. He went to the river to bath. He came back and this problem
started.” Sunday Vanguard inquired about the hospital where Tombari was treated
to confirm the victim’s health status.
The step father standing. He said: “We have not gone to any
hospital to confirm, but it is the water that he bathed in that caused this
problem. The MTN gave him the wheel chair he is using now through our church.
“He has been like this for over 20 years. He is about 30 years now, he was not
born like this; he was walking perfectly before this problem started.
We do not have money to take him to hospital.” 18-year-old
Mary Baduna also attributed her stunted growth to enemies of progress, while
Martha Monday said: “I am 22 years old. The air we breath has spoilt everything.
Everything we eat has been destroyed. I have not gone to hospital. I see oil in
the water that we drink, but why I have not gone to hospital is because I do
not have money. “I want government to help me open business.
Some foreigners have visited us. They said they will build
hospital, give us pipe borne water and school, but we have not seen any of
those things they promised.” Paul Kaafor, who spoke for his deformed sister,
Miss Bridule Kaafor, said: “The water is the cause of her stunted growth. Her
sickness started one year after she was born. “She was taken to hospital by
some of our relatives and the doctor said the cause was oil pollution. We do
not have money to take her to hospital again. We want government to give us
money to cure the sickness.”
Rashes all over my body- Samuel Monday
A middle-aged man,Samuel Monday, who had inflammation all
over his body, said: “Leedeh group are the people who came to help Ogoni land.
We do not have clean water to drink because of the oil spill. When we put our
bucket outside and it rains, the colour of the water is black. “When we uproot
cassava, we cannot use it. When we bathe with the water, our body will start
itching. If I open my private part, you will see rashes, it is caused by the
polluted water.
That was what killed my father.” “I do not go to the river to bathe again and I do not fish there, but some people still do. Even periwinkle is no longer there. To get fish now, we go to other places far from here.”
Sunday Vanguard
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