The Oil Pollution of Marine Environment in Nigeria: Dealing with Impending Catastrophe Today
Author: Lateef Modati | madotiayomi@gmail.com
1.0 Introduction
Pollution in the maritime environment poses threats to its continued existence and health of aquatic life. The maritime environment provides vast opportunities to many Nigerian citizens as well as other residents which ultimately promotes the Nigerian economy. Beyond aquatic life being directly affected by pollution, the healthy status of the maritime environment is important for the existence and sustenance of humans as it aids in the regulation and control of the climate temperature, provision of food and contributes to the facilitation of international trade. Despite these overriding benefits of the healthy status of the maritime environment, it is currently under stress as a result of pollution, ranging from sewage, chemical and plastic waste pollution which are in turn contributing to climatic change . The indiscriminate disposal of plastic in the canal leading to the covering of the ocean by plastic and the extraction of crude oil in the high seas are all endangering the maritime environment. The Nigerian National Assembly had enacted several legislations to protect the marine environment from pollution of any kind. Despite the existence of the environmental legal frameworks, oil pollution of the Nigerian marine environment continue to be the order of the day. It is therefore important to assess the various causes and impacts of the oil pollution to the Nigerian marine environment and how the menace can be reduced to a reasonable level.
2.0 Conceptual Clarification
“Oil”, accordingly to Marpol 73/78 Annex 1 means petroleum in any form including crude oil, fuel oil, sludge, oil refuse and refined products (other than petrochemicals which are subject to the provisions of Annex II of the present Convention) and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, includes the substances listed in appendix I to this Annex. Oil in this context is a mixture of hydrocarbon compounds, which are the decayed remains of marine animals and plants, which died and drifted to the bottom. Crude oil is a Mixture of gas, naphtha, kerosene, light gas, and residuals, which causes hazardous health effects if consumed by any life forms.The National Geographic Society defined “Pollution” as the introduction of harmful materials into the environment. These harmful materials are called pollutants. The European Environment Agency defines “marine environments” to include estuaries, coastal marine and nearshore zones, and open-ocean-deep-sea regions.3.0 Historical Background of the Protection of the Nigerian Environment From Oil PollutionThe development of laws governing Nigerian marine environment can be divided into two eras: The pre-independence era and the post-independence era.
3.1 The Pre-Independence Era 1954
The existence of maritime activities in Nigeria dates back to the pre-independence era in 1909 and with the enactment of the Ports Act in 1954 gave the development a lift. In February 1957, the Nigerian National Shipping Line was established and the government started acquiring ships. The Federal government established a Ship Registry in 1960, and the Nigerian Merchant Shipping Act was enacted. This Act increased the maritime activities in Nigeria, as the Nigerian coast started experiencing port development and influx of different sizes and classes of vessels and therefore introduced and increased marine pollution to the shore of Nigeria. The marine environment at that time experienced plastic pollution as a result of the increase in manufacturing and indiscriminate disposal of plastic related waste. Likewise, the offshore extraction of oil and gas was also contributing to the pollution of the marine environment.
3.2 Post-Independence Era 1960
The indiscriminate disposal of plastic waste and the activities of oil and gas companies extracting crude from the various wells offshore, and other actions such as oil spills and gas leakages by vessels have immensely contributed to marine pollution in Nigeria.On September 19, 1987, one Sunday Oyemire Nana, a farmer from Koko, a small village which is five miles from the coast in the former state of Bendel, Nigeria, aided an Italian businessman by name Gian Franco Raffaelli and his team to dump about 3,880 tonnes of toxic and hazardous waste into the community river which caused death of fishes and hampered economic livelihood of the people. This caused unrest and riots within the community. In May 1988, the Italian ship was found and most of its components were made of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBS). Consequently, the media outcry prompted the Federal Government to promulgate the Harmful Waste (Special Criminal Provision etc.) Decree 42 of 1984. It was on this premise that many Laws were enacted to curtail the reoccurring issues. The Nigerian government enacted some national legislation and domesticated international treaties on marine protection. One of such laws was the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) through Decree 58 of 1988 and 59 (amended) of 1992. This period has witnessed plethora of enactments on maritime environment. However, the laws have not been able to achieve or curtail the menace because of lack of political will to enforce the laws and some of the laws need amendment to meet up with realities of the day.
4.0 Main Sources and Causes of Oil Pollution of The Marine Environment
According to Mohit, contamination of sea water due to an oil pour, as a result of an accident or human error is termed as oil spill. Oil is among the most important Energy sources in the world and because of its uneven distribution, it is transported by ships across the oceans and by pipelines across the lands. This has resulted in several accidents in the past This spill results in contamination of the coasts and estuaries which can cause serious health problems to human beings such as dizziness, headache, chest pain, fatigue, and lung related diseases.
Furthermore, oil tanker vessel accidents are one of the most dangerous sources of oil pollution of the marine environment. Ship operations are one of the main sources of oil pollution of the marine environment, especially operating giant oil tanker vessels that transport oil from production regions to consumers. All ships also carry fuel oil which may be bad to the marine environment. There are many reasons for potential risks of environmental pollution, not only from accidents but also from the operation in the field of maritime navigation. For example, the dirty water contaminated with even small amounts of oil in the engine room space, causes pollution of the marine environment when pumping out this water into the sea further. The oil leaking from fuel oil bunkering into the sea in high sensitive areas has high impacts on the marine environment.
It has also been observed that there are two main sources of oil pollution: the natural sources and the anthropogenic sources. The natural sources of oil pollution occur when oil seeps from the bottom of oceans and enters the marine environment. This means that crude oil is forced during long periods of time through natural processes involving organic matter from dead organisms. These spills may occur in oceans, due to eroding sedimentary rocks from the bottom of the ocean.The anthropogenic sources, however, include accidental oil spills as well as leaks due to a large variety of human activities related to oil refining, transport and handling, storage and use of crude oil and any of its distilled products. Even though numerous factors and natural disturbances can generate oil spills, the main causes of oil spill pollution are usually of anthropogenic origin. Most commonly encountered anthropogenic sources are the accidental spills. Accidental spills occur when vessels collide or come in distress at sea (e.g engine breakdown, fire, and explosion) and break open, or run aground close to the shore, or when there is a blowout of an offshore oil well, or when a pipeline breaks. Though much can be done to avoid accidents, there will always be unfortunate situations and circumstances that cause accidents to happen. Accidental spills may occur in various circumstances, most often during the following activities: transportation, handling, storage, road runoff, etc.
5.0 Impacts of Oil Pollution on the Marine Environment
The effects of oil spills on the marine environment depend on a number of factors such as the physical features of the affected region, weather conditions and season; the nature and the efficiency of the clean-up operations, the biological and economical characteristics of the area and the area’s vulnerability to oil pollution; the category of oil and its behavior; amongst others. Oil spills into the sea from sources, such as oil terminals, ships and pipelines create serious marine environmental problems. When oil spills occur in a particular area, it causes different kinds of damage to the environment, for instance oil coated shorelines, dead or moribund wildlife, and oiled seabirds and marine mammals.
Oil pollution has the long-term effect on every population within this region and the community-level impacts in different ways. Even small amounts of oil released over a long period create chronic impacts on the entire environment. The oil effect can also be classified depending on the time and duration of the spill with the numbers and types of organisms affected. Furthermore, sea and shore birds such as kittiwakes, shags, fulmars, razorbills and guillemots are easily more affected by oil spills because some of these dive under water for their food. In the event of an oil spill, they are definitely impacted by the oil. In addition, when the birds’ feathers are coated with oil, there is loss of body heat which may cause death. The birds may also be unable to fly and could hence drown. The birds may also starve to death because the food sources at sea or on shorelines are covered with oil. Oil pollution can affect Fish and shellfish in three ways: direct lethal or sub-lethal effect on the fish itself; direct effect on fisheries, and indirect effect via ecosystem disturbance. Shellfish are more affected by oil spills than fish because of their habitat.
Similarly, water column organisms such as planktons may be impacted by oil pollution. Laboratory studies have revealed toxic and sub-lethal effects on planktons. With respect to sea mammals in the open sea, there are no significant impacts from oil spills to dolphins and whales, but when the sea mammals are breeding on the shorelines, they are more prone to be affected by oil pollution. The most affected mammal species are those which rely on fur to regulate their body temperature because if the fur becomes contaminated with oil, the mammal may die from hypothermia or overheating. Similarly, some kinds of plants and marine animals such as the adult fish, squid, and shrimps seldom suffer long-term damage from oil spill exposure.
The greatest oil impacts occur on shorelines where animals and plants may be physically coated and smothered by oil or exposed directly to toxic components in the oil. Soils and vegetation e.g. the mangroves will be affected by oil spills. However, the toxicity resulting from oil pollution will possibly affect the coral reefs. Macro-fauna such as the benthic fauna in offshore sediments are very sensitive to polluted material attached to particles. Since they feed on organic particles either suspended in the water or living on the seabed, they are good indicators of biological conditions of sediments. There are serious impacts on the human health when an oil spill has effects such as Significant atmospheric pollution and subsequent pollution of inland waters, and the fresh water systems. Furthermore, with regard to human health, when individuals are exposed to constituents of oil such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), these may be harmful because they have been identified as carcinogenic to humans. Human beings are at the end of sea food chains and their health may be impacted by ingesting oil polluted sea food. In addition, oil pollution can cause many other health problems such as difficulties in breathing, coughing and nasal obstruction.
6.0 The Legal Regime on Maritime Environmental Pollution
The Nigerian National Assembly had enacted several laws and domesticated a number of international treaties to prevent pollution of the Nigerian marine environment. Some of these legislations and treaties are: the Nigerian Constitution; the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) Act of 2007; the Oil in Navigable Waters Act 2004; the Environmental Impact Assessment Act, 2004; the Harmful Wastes (Special Criminal Provisions, etc) Act 1988; the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency Act 2006; Nigerian Maritime Administration and Satety Agency Act 2007; the Merchant Shipping Act 2007; International Convention for Prevention of Oil Pollution of the Sea by Oil (OILPOL); MARPOL Convention 73/78; The International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage (CL Convention); etc.
As mentioned above, the oil pollution of the Nigerian marine environment has not reduced despite the number of legislations that have been put in place. This is as a result of non-optimal implementation of the laws and several lacunas in some of them. Taking the Nigerian Constitution as an instance. The Nigerian Constitution is the supreme law and the foundation of every law in Nigeria and all other laws derive their validity from it. It is the provision of the constitution that any law that is inconsistent with the provisions of the constitution is null and void to the extent of such inconsistency. The constitution guarantees the protection of the citizens of Nigeria through its provisions. Section 20 of the 1999 Constitution states that, states shall protect and improve the environment and safeguard the water, air, forest and wild life of Nigeria. However, section 20 forms part of the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy in Chapter II of the Constitution the implication of which is that no Nigerian citizen can go to court to enforce his/her rights in respect of a violation or threatened violation of such provision. Arguably, section 20 of the Constitution is a well painted masquerade that can never display nor dance in the face of section 6(6)(c) of the Constitution. This is bad for protection of marine environment as Nigerians have been foreclosed from seeking redress from the court of law.
7.0 Conclusion and Recommendations
Over the years, there have been many oil spillages across the world. Many of them have resulted in catastrophic effects. Oil pollution in particular is a kind of water pollution, and a dangerous one as such. Oil does not dissolve in water and hence oil usually floats on the surface of water. Thus, oil pollution due to any cause or source greatly affects the quality of natural water bodies and its environment. Nigeria has various legal frameworks on marine environmental pollution. All the laws have robust provisions to curtail the menace of marine environmental pollution in Nigeria. However, the beautifully clothed provisions of the various laws are unable to prevent indiscriminate disposal of waste especially oil into the marine environment. Today, the rates of litters along our costal and shorelines are on the increase and the poor masses are on the receiving end. It is therefore pertinent that Nigerian government amend all the Acts in order to strengthen marine pollution control laws. Also, the government should avoid interfering with the functions of the various institutions. Likewise politics and corruption should be separated from systematic institutions. When these and several other reforms are put in place, the rate of oil pollution of the Nigerian marine environment would be reduced to a reasonable level.