Transcript of Nigeria: Seeds of Hope | ARTE.tv Documentary

[Music] dewari Stanford is 65 and has been catching Periwinkles in the mangroves Billy a village in southern Nigeria all her life [Music] when I small when go school when don't come go inside Bush they go pick after that time small small small when I come be woman when I don't turn to better person eh I come to go with my mother with sometime fish they come they go they come they go so one certain time 21 when we go now we not kill anything again all don't float for everywhere both the bush everywhere if you enter inside the river you don't when you come you don't that you find this soap do before clean some clean take sleep everything so if you go nothing to kill if you go i d for water they K fish but no now nothing day nothing so if you go suff with like this for more than 70 years multinational corporations have been extracting oil in this region most notably the Anglo Dutch company shell has been very active in neria leaving behind decaying facilities [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

in the south of the country the Niger River flows into the Atlantic Ocean after traveling over 4,000 km here it branches out into a vast Delta a Meandering expanse the size of Britany covered in mangroves this Delta is bursting with oil making Nigeria the continent's leading producer of this black gold but the Niger Delta is also the most polluted region in the world due to oil spills from 2011 to 2013 bil and ogali two villages in the Delta were ravaged by repeated oil spills at this teaching Hospital in Port arore the regional Capital Dr ba Briggs is a specialist in oil related diseases today he is seeing Esther obati a midwife from mugali and her 10-year-old son we already know that the water in aali is polluted you know sometime in 2011 United Nations environmental program did a study and they took some water samples from oali and they said that the water in oal community has what we call hydrocarbon this hydrocarbon is in excess of 9 over 900 times what World Health Organization approves to being

water you understand so I'm believing and I'm suspecting that this skin itching and rashes that you and your son are having may be due to the contaminated water that you bit with in allal community so taking a very deep breath out I feel bad because I I sense injustice people in O oil bearing communities in the ner Delta have not um benefited anything from the business of oil and gas exploration and exploitation in their communities and then I feel even more terrible because as a medical doctor and as a Public Health Physician they come and there is little or nothing I can actually do to help them please L down it's not pin in is it yes so why are you scared now lung cancer is on the increased blood cancer bone cancer you know cervical cancer breast cancer is on the increase and the age of onset of most of these diseases is reducing so we are seen it even in younger people yeah good let me know younger dos less than 10 20 30 years coming down with cardiovascular diseases kidney diseases you know heart problems and all

that it never used to be so it used to be we used to see such things in people in their 50s 60s and 70s young people you know they crime they from n daughter they crime they come from communities that are oil bearing and then the oil companies the multinational oil companies they conduct their business with Reckless abandon not following standards uh for environmental safety so I really feel bad I really feel bad I would advise that you don't bait with the water in or if you have what he takes get water from somewhere else that is not polluted that you use for drinking for bating and for cooking that's the only way how can we do since we don't have money because all those things is a problem to get money to go to outside and fresh water so I don't know what to do because it's a big problem for [Music] us Esther is now well aware of the risks that oil polluted water represents for her her family and her patients so despite her financial struggles she hires the services of a tricycle taxi and sets off to stock up

on clean water this is a suffering it's not easy for me to come so I don't like to be leaving my house to come and fetch water the water is important because of children man it my husband helped me this organic problem must end because as as we don't have water to drink so sh know what to do they should do something that is in for us [Music] you are good with her Jerry can of Clean Water Esther heads to the Health Center she runs she's conducting an information session for pregnant women be the name of the Lord you are To Be Blessed Be Thy Name Lord the water that he said is not good so what I normally do that that water that I carry it from I don't B children because it can fed think can destroy the life of children I don't know the next thing that will come so what you do that that water that I F boy it and we B the CH because there is a newborn we don't know the next thing that this water will cause to the CH ask when you want baby you need to put the to for water leave them for like

3 minutes or 4 minutes before you beat the baby so I want is it right for us to wait three that 3 minutes or we just put and bit that minute that minute M okay you must wash it and clean it and boil it and put it inside hot water so that the child will not get infection if you don't do like that even the water you are giving the child you must do all those things to sterilize and make sure that you give that child better water [Music] both the Midwife from aali and the fisherwoman from Billy are part of local groups taking legal action against shell the oil company they deem responsible for the [Music] disaster the multinationals head office is in the heart of London a legal race against the Clark has been set in motion between the oil Giant and the Nigerian plaintiffs the communities are suffering shers refused to pay compensation to them for the destruction of their environment and their land how long can they continue to be patient to receive compensation from Sher we want Justice for the B Community we want

Justice for the oral Community we represent about 13,000 individuals from two communities in the Niger Delta so the Bay Community is a fishing Community where we represent about 2 and a half thousand individuals um they claim that that shells pollution has completely devastated their mangrove environment which supported the the fish they used to they used to fish uh and they're no longer able to support their livelihoods no longer able to support their families uh so we represent that community and also the agal community which is a community in agon land where they have particular problems with their drinking water shut down shut down shut down shut down shut down no doubt there are other places in the world that have serious tion but the Niger Delta has been described as and is recognized as the most polluted place on Earth who want to clean up sh to clean up who do we want to clean up we want sh to clean up who do we want shell have been exploiting oil there for over 70 years now since before the colonial era

ended and we have a a position now as well where shell is looking to divest it's looking to leave the Niger Delta looking to move away from its operations in Nigeria leaving behind this chronic environmental situation and if shell is able just to walk off into the distance without properly cleaning up this pollution the communities are going to be left with this for the foreseeable future so Generations will be left behind in the Nigro Delta to face this problem that shell and other operators have caused if they are allowed to leave without properly cleaning up the mess they've caused who kills the Niger Delta Del who kill the Niger Delta n shell has officially announced the end of oil exploitation in the Niger Delta the company will now focus on offshore fields which are far more profitable nowadays will this withdrawal allow the company to evade its environmental responsibilities shell declined our request for an interview about the ongoing court cases in Nigeria instead providing us with a written statement

[Music] shells say everywhere that they they are not responsible for what's happening in the niga Delta that it's all the fault of the of the local people it's all the fault of of criminals who are tapping into the pipeline and causing the harm shell over state that position so there are many many operational spills because of the poor state of repair of their pipelines and infrastructure but but even if shell arrives we say well they knew about this problem why did they not do something to stop it why didn't they take reasonable steps to stop this from happening as they would do anywhere else in the world and as they do in other places in the world where this is a problem [Music] faced with the destruction of their livelihoods due to oil spills some locals turn to tampering with the pipelines and refining oil illegally to fight this the Nigerian Army is on permanent Patrol in the Niger Delta the damaging effect of this illegal refineries is very much you can see the environment it has destroyed the

whole environment commercial life in the creek might not be possible Aquatic Life is destroyed over time we've been dismantling these refineries manually and the criminals come back to Res suain this refineries within 3 days one week so we were directed from high Authority that we should employ the use of swan Boogie which will bring a lasting solution to it because most of the materials they use here are heat resistance materials as you can [Music] see Kingsley ogara 38 was one of those earning their Mega living by illegally refining oil in the bush so come they look and see where we day we not they get anything you can look around Boys in hun for you not go fishing not go farm nothing we here government not know where we day so that that our brother join come and they walk with other boys bring from really the work I get for there you see those aob boys mainly I then know the work me I be boat man when the prod don't come out then cook and my boat I go use transort them I my function the first time when I enter

where the first time I fear because of the level of the fire where they burn and when the fire was burning the most one who fear me the first time when I enter happen just 3 weeks after the first time I enter Fire come born three [Music] persons my brother we you make me stop after I they tell you see my afternoon 9 army they work and navy then they work and other prary officer they work they Cony change sh put their sh for night to where catch us now we swim we swim the Big River the main Niger for night I lost my boot it was B I've decided and I be working with a man I've put with the business Kingsley our reformed oil Smuggler has left the gang for good he now works for a Nigerian NGO whose mission is to help young people leave the business of a legal refining its director fineac dumi travels The Villages of the Delta to convince what is it that we want to achieve we don't want you to go back to pipeline vandalism we don't want that we want a cleaner environment because you remember

you mentioned that you also do fishing as some one of the things you do when there is pollution in the river crude oil you can't be able to fish can't get the fish you can't get the fish so while you are making money from pipeline vandalism you are making other people who are into fishing and farming to lose their own means of livelihood these are the things we are the Gap we are trying to bridge to ensure that we have harmony with [Applause] [Music] nature to achieve these goals fine face wants to end oil dependency through solar energy I choose to use solar to power communities in the Niger data as a way of contributing to the war and fight against group oil TFT in the Niger Delta because in the Niger Delta where Nigeria gets its oil from there is serious energy poverty so I believe that if I can site solar mining G electricity in communities without electricity I will be able to cut off oil theft in that Community you can imagine that a community like umu since the creation of this world that we all know they have

not had electricity before they are now using the solar lights and because they have cut off the purchase of this illegally refined product that is readily available to them then I can tell you that we have started soling the problem and providing solution to the real issues that face us as a people [Music] not far from bil and ogali the village of Bodo has also been ravaged by oil in 2008 and 2009 two huge leaks from faulty facilities destroyed the mangroves and massively polluted the environment shell offered the villagers an outof Court settlement they would compensate them with $4,000 and a few sacks of rice the villagers refused and sought legal recourse in London they won shell was eventually forced to pay them around €80 million EUR in Damages the multinational also had to finance the cleanup of ,000 hectares of oil soaked Marshland a mediation unit was set up to work with the local people this was a first giving them hope of returning to Everyday Life Today British lawyers are

off to check on the progress of the cleanup a unique large scale soil cleanup operation [Music] moving actually see if you got this you can sort of concentrate it oh yeah I kept the glove the glove is here but it's now covered in thick thick black oil this is the yeah this is the droplets on the on the sheen of the water so about 40% in this in this pit so we'll take the sediment out of this pit now you so here we're taking uh samples from three different depths at a pit which has been dug near the shoreline to understand how much oil is in the sediment Nick lovely lovely sediments and we're also uh getting it from from different pits to understand how it differs within different parts of the environment we take pictures of the pit as well to see yeah and we can compare that with what the um testing this all right yep we good yon can you hold that can you hold the open Victory Inon how many have we got roughly 10 let's go okay we'll put it we'll put it in the ice protect this one put it in the ice

and uh we're also sending the uh animals that we're taking we will send them to the labs and they're going to tell us exactly how much oil is is in the soil and we're going to use that to understand how much risk our clients face from the oil which is going to remain here after the cleanup which is being done um that's going to be used in court proceedings between uh the Bodo community and shell we will use the results to understand as well for our clients how much risk they're facing from the oil which is going to remain here they have very good form so we have a enough here so this will definitely complete the one okay great I told them to just do one more time you see these big ones these ones will give us a better way oh still still active some people do eat this fresh one should I have some sushi sushi sushi and oil is the h hydrocarbon contaminated soil clean enough to move on to the next stage replanting the mangrove forest that's what's at [Music] stake princess Jordan 28 is a plant

scientist specializing in mangroves who represents the people of Bodo in assessing the site's cleanup as a community representative when I started the job in 2020 when you go out to the mod lot you see dead Periwinkles dead crabs and when you pick it up to see why they are dead you see oil and them it was really [Music] bad I remember going to the farm with my grandmother and her Farm was always across the river we get into the Cano paddle I didn't know how to paddle so she paddles on my way to the farm everywhere was always beautiful on both sides of the river we always have the mangroves they were big they were very tall they were beautiful and coming back in 2020 to work I could barely see those things and I asked somebody I said where are we I and the person said you're on bod River and I like no this is not bod River the bod River I Used to Know used to be full of trees full of mangroves where are those mangroves and the person said that's what the oil killed it I was so bitter mangroves are useful very very

useful not just for the cleanup for the environment they absorb a lot of carbon and you know what it does they kind of purify the air around the environment so that you can breath in fresh air so I think if you ask me I would say mangroo is the mother of The Creeks princess is also an entrepreneur she runs a mangrove Nursery so this is the sting process right now we are Sting the mangroo seeds it's called propag Gill we're Sting the propag gills to know the ones that are viable for planting you know some might look very healthy but they are not okay for planting when you plant them it won't grow so we are sorting it out to know the ones that are healthy and valuable for planting the value of this proper GS for me it's more like my life work I cannot have anything happen to this cuz this is what makes my Nursery these are planted and they become a Seedling so this is like my own goat the quality of the water here is it's very okay okay for a nursery okay for everything if you look around you

can see crabs running everywhere so that means this place is clean no spill here I put this plant here because this is their natural habitat and then it will grow normally we don't use any nutrients just grows normally in m just the it grows around on the M fls once the mangrove shoots have grown enough the teams will replant them in land that has been cleaned of oil residues a delicate task [Music] the green vegetation monkey our Creek is our pride so green this vegetation attract so many aquatic organism restek from [Music] the to the labor aspect of it [Music] after a rocky start the mangrove cleanup and replanting program financed by shell is beginning to show results the technique used fighter remediation uses plants to complete the cleanup of contaminated soil these are about 3 years old now actually [Music] Nicholas story in charge of the cleanup teams inspects the young Mangrove shoots he is cautiously optimistic like imagine how big these mangr are going to be like these three

right here they're all going to be touching each other this one they're all going to be overlapping yes right and so one of the things with the mangrove monitoring that we're doing right if there is a large die off come and investigate it and so the reasons are you know oiling maybe the remediation didn't do that well and then that's a hot spot that we have to come and flush right so uh that's something I'm working on right now okay we expect over time that or we know that over time the level of hydrocarbons in the sediment is going to come down a lot more uh but it just takes time right so that that's uh one of the big points of this project is is a a fight of remediation so there's no way that we can get all the oil out here it's impossible very absolutely impossible so we get it down to a level to where the mangroves can survive right then over time there's natural attenuation right and then also f a remediation via the mangroves themselves yeah so uh it takes a long time but it'll happen eventually

[Music] this is one of the first places where the mangroves were planted as you can see around there are so many of them and this is one of the largest grades they have up to 90% survival rate here and the mangroves are doing pretty well very well so coming back here now again to see how big they are it's it's very wonderful I'm happy I'm happy to see that yeah princess has poured all her skills and energy into restoring the Bodo mangrove forest the battle is not over yet but the hope of seeing her childhood Forest again is very much alive for her in bil the fishing Community is eagerly awaiting the trial against shell they hope that the courts will rule in their favor and that as in Buddha they too will obtain compensation and see their mangroves restored for the future of her seven children and many grandchildren darari Stanford is placing all her hopes in her British lawyers so I know go Fe when they they fight okay when I when they they fight I will run when better come I come no I

must join them even that right I will take my finger press them when I I press I must support when we everybody don't my childreno again I know the fight to give the children of the maor Delta a future continues far from the oil polluted Shores the battle is waged in the courtrooms of London but also here in Bodo Among The Mangrove saplings I want budha to be a better place I want it to be the way it used to be just protect the coal so bod has not recovered fully from the speed they are just in the recovering process recovery takes time and I just hope all this mangroves here Will Survive and everywhere is going to go back to normal I do all this for my daughter bua to be able to tell people around her her friends she's going to meet tomorrow and her own children that her mother was part of this so yes I do this for her [Music]