Oil Spill In Nigeria (Part 2)

This is the concluding part of our blog on Oil Spill in Nigeria and this part of the blog is to give ideas on what can be done to limit the number of spills happening in the community. As we emphasized in the first part of this topic, for these solutions to be effective, it must be an honest and full collaboration between the stakeholders involved.

The major stakeholders here are the oil companies, the community, state government and other parties such as contractors. Listed below are some of the ways of reducing spills in the region which can be applied where these problems occur.

Transparency: The problems facing the community should be discussed honestly between the community representatives, the oil and gas companies and state government and all must come to an agreement which must be adhered by, mostly in terms of payment, security, technology, employment and development.

Funds: Funds meant for the development of the community should not be paid to an individual or set of individuals, an account must be set up for the community which the representatives and parties involved must be aware of and the oil companies or stakeholders should provide information on funds paid to the community for its development and what the funds is intended for. The community representatives, the community and the state must have discussed and agreed upon what development is needed as a priority which the funds should be used for.

Payments made to community leaders because of their role or position within the community can be kept discreet between the parties involved but when distributing payment, the stakeholders should remember that the development of the community comes first and they have to be fair in the way the funds are distributed. The development of the community and the welfare of its citizens takes priority.

Security: Security personnel from the community should be placed in strategic positions where vandalism is most likely to occur. I believe if negotiations made at the beginning of the resolution were transparent and honest, this would have eliminated any threat posed by the militants so vandalism at this stage would probably be limited to individual thieves or group of individuals and this can still be members of the militants who do not have the interest of the community at heart.

Technology: The use of technology can be used to minimize oil spill, with the use of drones covering areas where pipes are laid, oil spill can be detected at the earliest time which would reduce the amount of spill and damage to the environment and livelihood of the community. People from the community can be employed to patrol these areas and when an oil spill or vandalism is noticed, the information can be relayed to the appropriate persons in charge of the department possibly named the Oil Spill Response Team. Technology can be used to detect mechanical failures allowing for quick response thereby reducing damages and saving costs.

The use of website forum and social media can be implemented where members of the community can report cases when they arise, this will allow for a speedy response.

Employment: The members of the community employed across the security, media, technology department provides more jobs thereby reducing unemployment.  It’s not really the size of the people employed here that is the key, it’s the number of people who are now in employment, even if it’s 10 to 20 0r 30 people were able to get employment through this strategy, the fact of the matter is that 10 to 20 or 30 people are now in employment.

This can’t be a success except the stakeholders are determined to make it work. Honesty, Transparency and Patriotism is needed for the plan to be successful. These possible solutions will not only reduce damage to the environment and livelihood of the members of the community but it will save money that could have been directed towards cleaning of oil spills and the environment but also eliminate huge amounts paid out in compensation.