Page 68 - Apmor 2018

oil environment

the absence of oil spills. While there are good
reasons to believe that the exact figure may be
different from this estimate (example, the true
effect may have been underestimated due to
the incomplete oil spill records), the findings
point out that onshore oil spills in Nigeria
are the cause of an alarming ongoing human
tragedy. More attention to the problem by both
the research community and the international
public is warranted.”

Roland Hodler, a professor of economics at the
School of Economics and Political Science,
University of St. Gallen said: “The oil
companies are one culprit. They are directly
responsible for oil spills that result from
the lack of maintenance of pipelines and
other oil infrastructure. In addition, their
indifference towards the local population is
one reason for some acts of sabotage. The
Nigerian government is another culprit. It
fails to properly regulate and control the oil
companies as well as to prevent oil theft and
sabotage. The only way to stop this ongoing
human tragedy is that both the oil companies
and the Nigerian government start caring about
the environment and the local population
particular rather than just about profits and
personal enrichment.”
Epidemiological and clinical studies suggest
that exposure to hydrocarbons in the
environment and to particulate matter in
the air can have severe adverse effects on
human health, whereby unborn and newborn
children are particularly vulnerable. So far,
no causal evidence exists on the effects of
onshore oil spills on human health.

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68 | AFRICAN POWER Mining & Oil Review Vol 21, Issue 20, 2017