Centre for Environmental Preservation and Development-CEPAD

22/02/2025

04/03/2024

SOME TIPS FOR HOST COMMUNITIES TO FOLLOW WHEN DEALING WITH MULTINATIONAL OIL COMPANIES IN OIL SPILL CASES:
Oil companies operating in the Niger Delta both multinational and indigenous have become a torn in the flesh of the host communities and their inhabitants. In cases of oil spill, they go to the extent of denying critical meetings they held with the impacted communities and other critically relevant evidence found on site.
It is in light of the above and some other antics they usually employ to frustrate the spill impacted communities that seek redress, I chose to enlighten my people who have suffered so much bruises over the years from these strange bed fellows.
Note that almost all their pipes and other facilities are long expired so cannot withstand the high pressure of oil or gas passing through them thereby causing incessant oil spills persistently and the regulation agencies compromised and are complacent.
i. When a spill occurs, quickly report the matter formally not only to the operators /polluters but to the Federal regulatory agencies, State and Local Governments, CSOs and NGO. Make sure you get duly signed and stamped acknowledgement copies.
ii. Engage the services of experts like Surveyors, Estate Surveyors and Valuers, Environmental Scientists, Engineers (particularly corrosion experts) and legal professionals to be involved in all stages, including the joint investigation visits (JIV), post spill impact assessments (PSIA) and damage assessments (DA). Ensure that the JIV report is signed in the field by only those who participated and have their own copies. Under no circumstance that JIV report should be prepared by any person, group of persons, agencies or company after the visit and be given to people for their signatures. Nobody should sign such report no matter the level of inducement or coercion because it is not in conformity with the industry’s international best practices.
iii. Don’t attend any meeting with the polluters or the regulatory agent NOSDRA or both without a formal letter of invitation. Never, attend such meetings on phone call invitations and also ensure that you go with your technical team.
iv. Ensure to have a copy of the attendance sheet(s) of the meetings duly signed by those present. Also, at the round up of each meeting, the minutes should be read out for every participant to make corrections where necessary and also ensure that everybody have a signed copy before departure. In case of any excuse, insist to have copies snaped with your phones or any other gadget.
v. In any field trip, be it JIV, PSIA and DA, ensure that you obtain a copy of the manifest of the boat or bus used as the case may be. Also, obtain the attendance/participation sheet on site. Make sure, if it is not possible to have such copies immediately, take snapshots of the copies with your phones or any other gadget.
vi. Don’t accept to fill in any figure on the impacted area column of the JIV template because it is always an assumption by the connivance of the polluters and the personnel of the regulatory agents. Sometimes the ignorance and compromise of the representatives of the state government is not also helping matters. The true area can only be ascertained when proper survey is conducted by professional surveyors.
vii. Make sure you take enough photographs both still and video of the area, the surroundings, the source of spill, surrounding facilities if any. In case any security personnel try to stop you, insist that it your right to take every detail of the area as an affected party. We know that most times, security agents are engaged by the polluters to conceal or completely destroy the evidence.
viii. No unsigned document or report of any kind should be accepted, because they are known for presenting unsigned reports and latter denying it. The present management of NOSDRA is particularly known for this antic. They have done it severally even to the National Assembly.
ix. Anything in form of palliative, relief or in any other name or guise, must not be accepted unless all the items are verified, and delivery notes signed by all parties and you are given your own copy. We have cases where what was given to the impacted communities cannot fill the back of a Hilux 4x4, but they claimed to have supplied trailers load of items and a medical outreach which was a big lie.
My dear brothers and sisters, let’s take these tips very seriously to stop the unabated oppression and deceit.
Surv. Furoebi F.S. Akene, FNIS, FNES. The Centre for Environmental Preservation and Development - CEPAD – [email protected]

01/07/2023

TRUTH HEALS MORE THAN IT HURTS TO A SENSIBLE AND DISCERNING HEARTH
The Holy Book said in John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.
Before I delve into the main issue, I wish to bring a few episodes to bear for us to really evaluate ourselves in one hand as leaders and on the other as followers/loyalist/supporters.
1. Two young friends were coming to meet me in my office for assistance using one excuse or the other and I use to help them in my own little way. This was around 1998 and 1999. I ask myself one day how long will this continue? The next time they came, I ask them can’t they find something doing to help themselves instead of seeking for help perpetually? They responded, if I can help them, so I asked them to go and think about what vocation they can learn and come back to me. Two weeks after, they came back to me and said they have seen a workshop to be trained as welders and told me the financial involvement for the two-year duration and others. I provided their financial needs for them and to my greatest surprise, about two and a half years after, they came with plenty drinks and other gift items to thank me in appreciation, saying that they now know the importance of working out their own money and earn a good living.
2. When I was a serving commissioner in the state, a lot of people not only youths were always coming to seek for one support or the other and some of them are known routine callers (I don’t want to use the word begging). Many were advised on a sustainable path forward but few accepted and moved forward with little assistance while the rest continued till date with age catching up with them. On this faithful day, a group of them numbering up to 15 came for an extortionist mission under the cover of a known organization which I don’t want to mention for some reasons. In the process of interacting with them, I realised that something fundamentally is missing in them which is proper counselling. To summarise the whole story, one of them said he is a Lawyer, and I ask to confirm whether he really went to the university to study law, graduated and subsequently went to the Nigerian Law school and called to Bar to practice and he confirmed it. On this note, I counselled him and advised him to look for a law office in the State and practice, and that the politicians whose bags he is carrying are the ones that will carry his bag for him, they will give him the respect he deserves instead of looking down on him because of peanuts they give to him out his common heritage they have stolen. About six months latter, this young man came to my office in his full robe from the court in appreciation of my series of advice that faithful day. Its like I woke him from the island of stupidity and hopelessness.
3. A one-time commissioner for finance in the state decided to help one of his nephews to get a job in a bank, used his position to appeal to a manager in one of the commercial banks operating in the state as at that time. The Manager obliged him, got the credential of the nephew to the commissioner and also appealed to the management and the management granted his appeal and the young man was given the job. On getting the appointment letter, he returned to the uncle and told him that he cannot accept the offer. The uncle asked him the reason for the rejection, and his response was that the amount of money the bank want to pay him for a whole month, he can get more that twice in a week when he moves around some people in some offices.
4. As a serving commissioner, youths came severally requesting that they want to work with me and when I told them that there was no position to accommodate them, they said, there work is political, and that whenever, I go for any function or occasion, they will be there with me and everybody will notice that these are Akene boys and that will increase my political relevance in the state. As I refused them most of them went on the path of blackmail and the powers that be then believed them.
While I am not here to defend anybody nor the commissioner, the furore over the statement of the Hon Commissioner is not necessary if we can check our conscience, say the truth to one another and accept the truth. It is a known fact in the state that what he said is the frank reality. Many of the people, not only the youths are help seekers to put it in a more refined perspective instead of calling them beggars and lazy.
Another reality and truth are that the politicians whom they call their leaders conditioned and transformed them to be so without the people pondering for a moment if this life pattern is good for a heathy living? We criticize people using fleet of cars in a long convoy but here in Bayelsa, we have many people used by politicians as human convoys to occasions after which they give them food, drinks and little stipend without advising and fixing them on a befitting and sustainable path of life.
Another truth about politicians creating laziness, help seekers and political slavery is giving monthly stipends to the perceived political loyalists in the name of political appointment without office and assigned duties but given a name. In this scenario, those who are not given such privileges adopt the platform of help seeking which is synonymous with begging. I heard from a reliable source and authority that one of such appointees who is a brilliant folk approached one of the government key officials with a proposal which when executed will help the state but to the bewilderment of the fellow this government official warned him not to near his office with any proposal again and that the appointment given to him is to enable him get that monthly stipend and not to work. The fellow worked away with so much disappointment. We must not forget the fact that many of these youths who are into this demeaning business of political loyalty are graduates with master’s degrees and even more intelligent than their acclaimed political leaders. Some of them are even innovative but suppressed and conditioned by political illusions.
Another, unfortunate and ugly scenario is the attitude of the so-called followers and loyalists. They know that their political masters like gossiping, so they gossip and blackmail anyone they see as brilliant and intelligent with good knowledge base and ideas getting close to their political masters/leaders, they blackmail the person and the person will be pushed away.
What we see in the state is always, is show of fictitious affluence, notice me syndrome and we are the happening guys in charge attitudes. Every youth is a leader in one area/enclave or the other to attract the authorities and politicians and they are always accorded such recognitions. Intellectualism, knowledge and ideas play secondary role in the state, while brigandry to win election take the first and central stage. Until we change our political orientation and priorities in the state, the situation of help seeking without working will not stop.
A renowned 18th century philosopher and politician, Edmund Burke once said “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing”
GOD BLESS BAYELSA.
From the CENTRE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PRESERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT (CEPAD)
Surv. Furoebi F.S. Akene; FNIS; FNES is a development consultant.

16/05/2022

Solemn appeal to NJC, NBA, AGF, National Assembly, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As a matter of necessity, review the court processes on litigations concerning oil spills & related matters to be concluded within one year as it's done on political matters. Matters to last for decades using avoidable adjournments and very long periods of adjournments is oppressive.

16/04/2022

SOME TIPS FOR HOST COMMUNITIES TO FOLLOW WHEN DEALING WITH MULTINATIONAL OIL COMPANIES
Multinational oil companies operating in the Niger Delta area has become a torn in the flesh of the host communities and their inhabitants and is on the increase as time progresses. The people suffer oppression and deprivation from these companies including deliberate denial of opportunities such as employment, contracts and consultancies on the most demeaning excuse of the people not having the needed qualifications and requirements for such which is not true.
The peoples economic means of livelihood which is majorly fishing and farming have been almost completely destroyed by the uncontrolled incessant crude oil spills majorly due to old expired and obsolete equipment but by the connivance of some regulatory agencies like NOSDRA, they are tagged third party interference or popularly called sabotage, but they have not been able to identify one saboteur despite their acclaimed sophisticated security and surveillance system. It is not interesting to note that most the operational pipes have expired operating on expired leases.
In the guise of expert reports, their joint investigation visit (JIV) reports are always fictitious and falsified, so also the post spill impact assessment (PSIA) and damage assessment (DA) reports. This is the reason their reports are at great disparity with the reports of other cognate professionals. It poignant and nauseating to note that such post spill impact assessments (PSIA) and damage assessments (DA) reports are hardly released to the participants by the coordinator and regulatory agency NOSDRA sometimes for upward of three years after the assessment despite pressures mounted by interested and affected parties, particularly on the ones that they cannot declare sabotage because of the too glaring evidence. Surprisingly, clean-ups are made in the most unprofessional and unethical manners and remediations are not on site but on paper only.
Most worrisome is the fact that when some aggrieved communities seek redress in competent court of law, these multinational oil companies will to the extent of denying some critical meetings with the impacted communities and their agents. This is done through their lawyers in their counter affidavits amongst other painful lies. Investigations reveals that the brief to their councils is that they should as much as possible delay the dispensation of justice since the evidences tendered by the plaintiffs are too germane to defend which the councils openly display in court by employing a lot of frivolous antics. This is the reason litigations concerning crude oil spills between the affected and the polluters take years, sometimes more than a decade. This is to discourage the affected who are poor peasant farmers and fishermen from continuing with the matter due to paucity of fund on their part. This is the height of oppression in these modern times.
It is in the light of the above and some salient issues not mentioned here that I chose to enlighten my people who have suffered so much bruises over the years from these strange bed fellows.
When a spill occurs, quickly report the matter formally not only to the operators /polluters but to the Federal regulatory agencies, State and Local Government, CSOs and NGO. Make sure you get duly signed and stamped acknowledgement copies.
Engage the services of experts like Surveyors, Estate Surveyors and Valuers, Environment Scientists, Engineers (particularly corrosion experts) and legal professionals to be involved in all stages, including the joint investigation visits (JIV), post spill impact assessments (PSIA) and damage assessments (DA). Ensure that the JIV report is signed in the field by only those who participated and have their own copies. Under no circumstance that JIV report should be prepared by any person, group of persons, agency or company after the visit and be given to people for their signatures. Nobody should sign such report no matter the level of inducement or coercion.
Dont attend any meeting with the polluters or the regulatory agents NOSDRA or both without a formal letter of invitation. Never, attend such meetings on phone call invitations only and also ensure that your technical team attend also.
Ensure to have a copy of the attendance of the meetings duly signed by those present. Also, at the round up of each meeting, the minutes should be read out for every participant to make corrections where necessary and also ensure that everybody have a signed copy before departure. In case of any excuse, insist to have copies snaped with your phones or any other gadget.
In any field trip, be it JIV, PSIA and DA, ensure that you obtain a copy of the manifest of the boat or bus as the case may be. Also, obtain the attendance sheet on site. Make sure if it is not possible to have such copies immediately, take snapshots of the copies with your phones or any other gadget.
Dont accept to fill in any figure on the impacted area column of the JIV template because it is always an assumption by the connivance of the polluters and the personnel of the regulatory agents. Sometimes the ignorance and compromise of the representatives of the state government is not also helping matters. The true area can only be ascertained when proper survey is conducted by professional surveyors.
Make sure you take enough photographs both still and video of the area, the surroundings, the source of spill, every surrounding facility if any. If any security personnel try to stop you, insist that it your right to take every detail of the area as an affected party, because you are on a fact gathering mission. We know that most times security agents are engaged by the polluters to conceal or completely destroy the evidence.
No unsigned document or report of any kind should be accepted, because they are fund of presenting unsigned reports and latter denying it. The present management of NOSDRA is particularly known for this antic. They have done it severally even to the National Assembly.
Anything in form of palliative, relief or in any other name or guise, must not be accepted until all the items are verified, and delivery notes signed by all parties and you are given your own copy. We have cases where what was given to the impacted communities cannot fill the back of a Hilux 4x4 but they claimed to have supplied trailers load of items and a medical outreach which was a big lie without proof.
My dear brothers and sisters, let’s take these tips very serious to stop the unabated oppression and deceit.
God bless you all.
Surv. Furoebi F.S. Akene, is from the Centre for Environmental Preservation and Development - CEPAD -

27/03/2022

SOME TIPS FOR HOST COMMUNITIES TO FOLLOW WHEN DEALING WITH MULTINATIONAL OIL COMPANIES
Multinational oil companies operating in the Niger Delta area have become a torn in the flesh of the host communities and their inhabitants. This is on the increase as time progresses. The people suffer oppression and deprivation from these companies including deliberate denial of opportunities such as employment, contracts and consultancies on the most demeaning excuse that the people not having the needed qualifications and requirements for such opportunities.
The people’s economic means of livelihood which is majorly fishing and farming have been almost completely destroyed by the uncontrolled incessant crude oil spills, majorly due to old, expired and obsolete equipment, but they are tagged third party interference popularly called sabotage by the connivance of some regulatory agencies like NOSDRA and the multinationals. It is not interesting to note that most of the operating pipes have expired and operating on expired leases also without renewals.
In the guise of expert reports, their joint investigation visit (JIV) reports are always fictitious and falsified, so also the post spill impact assessment (PSIA) and damage assessment (DA) reports. This is the reason their reports are always at great disparity with the reports of other cognate professionals. It is poignant and nauseating to note that such post spill impact assessments (PSIA) and damage assessments (DA) reports are hardly released to the participants by the coordinator and regulatory agency NOSDRA, sometimes for upward of three years after the assessment despite pressures mounted by interested and affected parties, particularly on the ones that they cannot declare sabotage because of the too glaring evidence. Surprisingly, clean-ups are made in the most unprofessional and unethical manners that compounds the impacts, and remediations are not on site but on paper only.
Most worrisome is the fact that when some aggrieved communities seek redress in competent court of law, these multinational oil companies will go to the extent of denying some critical meetings and other issues they had with the impacted communities and their agents. This is done through their lawyers in their counter affidavits amongst other painful lies. Investigations reveal that their briefs to their councils is to delay the dispensation of justice as much as possible since the evidences tendered by the plaintiffs are too germane to defend which the councils openly display in court by employing a lot of frivolous antics including pressing for long adjournments’. This is the reason litigations concerning crude oil spills between the affected parties and the polluters take years, sometimes more than a decade. This is to discourage the affected who are mainly poor peasant farmers and fishermen from continuing with the matters due to paucity of fund on their part. This is the height of oppression in modern times.
It is in light of the above and some salient issues not mentioned herein that I chose to enlighten my people who have suffered so much bruises over the years from these strange bed fellows.
i. When a spill occurs, quickly report the matter formally not only to the operators /polluters but to the Federal regulatory agencies, State and Local Governments, CSOs and NGO. Make sure you get duly signed and stamped acknowledgement copies.
ii. Engage the services of experts like Surveyors, Estate Surveyors and Valuers, Environment Scientists, Engineers (particularly corrosion experts) and legal professionals to be involved in all stages, including the joint investigation visits (JIV), post spill impact assessments (PSIA) and damage assessments (DA). Ensure that the JIV report is signed in the field by only those who participated and have their own copies. Under no circumstance that JIV report should be prepared by any person, group of persons, agencies or company after the visit and be given to people for their signatures. Nobody should sign such report no matter the level of inducement or coercion.
iii. Don’t attend any meeting with the polluters or the regulatory agent NOSDRA or both without a formal letter of invitation. Never, attend such meetings on phone call invitations and also ensure that you go with your technical team.
iv. Ensure to have a copy of the attendance sheet(s) of the meetings duly signed by those present. Also, at the round up of each meeting, the minutes should be read out for every participant to make corrections where necessary and also ensure that everybody have a signed copy before departure. In case of any excuse, insist to have copies snaped with your phones or any other gadget.
v. In any field trip, be it JIV, PSIA and DA, ensure that you obtain a copy of the manifest of the boat or bus as the case may be. Also, obtain the attendance/participation sheet on site. Make sure, if it is not possible to have such copies immediately, take snapshots of the copies with your phones or any other gadget.
vi. Don’t accept to fill in any figure on the impacted area column of the JIV template because it is always an assumption by the connivance of the polluters and the personnel of the regulatory agents. Sometimes the ignorance and compromise of the representatives of the state government is not also helping matters. The true area can only be ascertained when proper survey is conducted by professional surveyors.
vii. Make sure you take enough photographs both still and video of the area, the surroundings, the source of spill, surrounding facilities if any. In case any security personnel try to stop you, insist that it your right to take every detail of the area as an affected party, because you are on a fact gathering mission. We know that most times security agents are engaged by the polluters to conceal or completely destroy the evidence.
viii. No unsigned document or report of any kind should be accepted, because they are fund of presenting unsigned reports and latter denying it. The present management of NOSDRA is particularly known for this antic. They have done it severally even to the National Assembly.
ix. Anything in form of palliative, relief or in any other name or guise, must not be accepted until all the items are verified, and delivery notes signed by all parties and you are given your own copy. We have cases where what was given to the impacted communities that cannot fill the back of a Hilux 4x4 but they claimed to have supplied trailers load of items and a medical outreach which was a big lie.
My dear brothers and sisters, let’s take these tips very seriously to stop the unabated oppression and deceit.
God bless you all.
Surv. Furoebi F.S. Akene, is Chairman, board of trustees

23/03/2022

What offence has the people of the oil producing Niger Delta have done to deserve the environmental homicide that is going unabated perpetrated jointly by the multinational oil companies and NOSDRA against the communities? Expired leases and facilities including pipelines rupturing every day to destroy the land. Host States are not also doing anything to help their own people. This time is the turn of Lasukugbene and neighbouring communities in Bomo clan of the Southern Ijaw local government area of Bayelsa State from the crude oil spill erupted from the Tebidaba/Brass pipeline owned and operated by the Nigerian Ship Oil Company Limited. They have no human feeling for the host communities. What a level of callousness? Please, was the attached video.