An environmentalist, Dr. Nnimmo Bassey, has lamented the negative impact of persistent gas flaring in the Niger Delta region of the country.
Bassey, the Director of Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), said that gas flaring is a big problem because it results in the release of gases to green house atmosphere while in terms of environmental health, it is serious because there are elements in gas flared.
The former executive director of the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FOeN) noted that gas flared in Nigeria burns at very low efficiency, adding that it is the reason for much smoke coming out from the flare.
He said: “There is no efficiency in the burning. If it were efficient, it will still be problematic but when it is less efficient, it is more problematic because you are releasing more elements to the atmosphere: nitrogen oxide and sulphur oxide.
“When all these mix with moisture, it comes down as acid rain which makes roofing sheets to rust within a few years, putting economic pressure on the people as they have to be replaced.
He emphasised that the practice also affects agricultural productivity. Agricultural productivity is reduced drastically within one kilometre of the radius of any gas flaring.
“People farming near that place have problems as they cannot get the yield they normally get. So you have gas flare in people’s farms, forest and in the communities. It is affecting the agricultural production of the people.
“Of course, the smoke from the flare is not good for the breathing system as the people have bronchitis, asthma, skin disease and eyes problems. Most times, their eyes are red. You will literally see red when you live near gas flaring sites.
“They have all kinds of cancers, infertility, birth defects and in some cases death. It affects not just the farms but the elements because when the gas is flared, it affects the elements and when the elements come with the rain, there is acidity which washes into the creeks. This affects the aquatic life. It affects the fishes, farms and everything.”
On the average, Bassey observed that the government wastes $2.5 billion worth of gas every year starting from the extraction of oil in the 1950’s at Oloibiri, Bayelsa State.
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