Nigeria: Ogoni Clean-Up Will Bolster Nigeria's Politics - Parker

 
interview  
By Abbas Jimoh

Dr. Tamunoiyoriari Sampson Parker is the immediate past commissioner for health in Rivers State. In this interview, he explained how the clean-up of oil spill in Ogoniland would benefit Nigeria.

As a former commissioner for health in Rivers State, how important is environmental clean-up to the state and Nigeria as a nation?

The Ogoniland clean-up exercise is important in many ways. A healthy environment is one of the key requirements for the health of a people. This is because the level and distribution of health are intrinsically linked to the environment. For instance, the quality of air impacts on nutrition through possible contamination of water, food and other micronutrients. For the people of Rivers State, water and land are closely linked to livelihood; hence pollution constrains us and impacts negatively on our health and sustainable growth. This clean-up exercise is very vital and should be sustained.

How would the people benefit from this exercise?

Apart from the numerous environmental conventions, which Nigeria, as part of the international community should uphold, there are also important considerations linking Ogoniland, and other places in Rivers State with the global marine environment. So if we degrade these areas, we are also indirectly creating negative externalities for other parts of the world.

Because of the concern for our immediate environment and the larger global environment, we need to take the following conventions and protocols seriously: the Stockholm Declaration on Human Environment; Convention on Wetlands; the Vienna Convention on the Protection of the Ozone layer; the Basel Convention on the Control of Trans-boundary Movement of Hazardous Waste and their Disposal; the Yokohama Strategy for a Safer World; the Hyogo Framework of Action 2005-2015, which was followed by the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. These international efforts indicate that the Ogoni clean-up is not only a local but actually a national and global issue, which we must take very seriously to avoid or mitigate future disasters that can affect Ogoni and Rivers State and possibly spread to the entire world.

How would the country tackle this challenge?

Apart from the disaster risk that results in the vulnerability of our people to health hazards, there are also opportunities. Given that the natural resources in our environment must be exploited to add value to the lives of the Ogoni, Rivers State and other parts of Nigeria, efforts must be made to step up health, safety and environmental activities, especially on the part of industries and agents of government.

We can also create associated industries and sectoral efforts that create sustainable opportunities for our people. This is aimed at conserving the environment, and other productive activities within these areas, such as ecotourism, new avant-garde green industries in the maritime and associated sectors, as well as in industries that produce compounds and equipment that facilitate human activities in these sectors. If we are to take an inventory of the human activities needed to support the industrial sectors, maritime resources and marine transport industries in the prevention and mitigation efforts, we can see that we would not only help to create a healthy environment, we shall also help to promote sustainable economic activities for both the Ogoni and other people of Rivers State and other Nigerians.

Do you think this exercise would extend to other affected areas of Rivers State?

It should, but as you know, a successful effort in one place makes it more likely in others. But as I have stressed, we must refrain from a reactive effort to try to create a more sustainable model of disaster risk reduction approach as advised by the Sendai Framework 2015-2030. In this new global approach, we must have a continuous model that takes a proactive review of our entire environment, mapping the risks and vulnerabilities of all our people through local government and state collaborations with the private sector and affected communities. In doing so, we must put prevention and mitigating processes in place, including early warning, community empowerment and vulnerability reduction mechanisms.

As we say in health care, prevention is better than cure, but in sustainable environmental disaster management, it is by far better and cheaper. 

When the Ogoni issue started, the state and the federal government shared similar political ideologies, don't you think the current differences in political affiliation would impact negatively on the project?

After elections we must develop a culture of collective and shared interest in community development. That is the reason we all offer ourselves for public service. This clean-up is not for a political party but to ensure that our people in Ogoni and other affected areas do not see industrial development as an irreversible disaster to their health and livelihood irrespective of our political persuasions. In that respect, I am certain we all share an equal commitment. It must be so.

Are you saying that such issues are capable of eroding the political differences among major stakeholders at the state and federal levels?

Well, I am saying that when it comes to the development of our people, they must come first before our political persuasions. If anything, our persuasions should compel all of us to act more in the collective interest. I am positive we can cooperate and collaboration in this endeavour because that is what the people expect from all of us. The wellbeing of the people of Rivers State is more important than any of us.