LAGOS: Nnimmo Bassey, a leading figure in Nigeria’s decades-long environmental battles within Africa’s largest oil-producing nation, is set to attend another UN climate summit next month in Brazil. However, he harbors little optimism for its outcome.
“Unfortunately!” the 67-year-old Nigerian activist remarked with a wry smile, describing these global gatherings as a “ritual” where states participate “while knowing that nothing serious will come of it.”
Bassey, a seasoned environmentalist, plans to focus his efforts on meetings with fellow activists on the fringes of the official COP30 discussions.
“For us as activists, the COP provides spaces for solidarity, for meeting other people, sharing ideas, and organizing in a different way,” he explained in an interview in Lagos, Nigeria’s bustling commercial capital.
Yet, he holds onto the hope that “the outside space may one day become the real decision-making space, while the politicians become the observers.”
The rampant oil pollution that has devastated the Niger Delta for decades serves as a prime example of the environmental struggles against extractive industries and fossil fuels.
Since the initial discovery of crude oil in southern Nigeria in the 1950s, an estimated nine to thirteen million barrels of oil have been spilled into the Delta, according to a 2006 study by an independent expert group.
Between 2006 and last year alone, the Nigerian National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency documented over 130 million liters of crude oil discharged into what Bassey poignantly calls the “sacrifice zone.”
Despite this alarming data, Nigerian authorities remain committed to increasing national oil production. The government announced earlier this month that the number of active drilling rigs had climbed from 31 to 50 between January and July.
“I believe that oil should be kept in the ground; that nobody should extract not even one drop of oil,” Bassey firmly stated.
Young People Rising Up
Africa’s most populous country is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, even though the continent collectively contributes only about four percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, as reported by the World Meteorological Organization.
“Every region has peculiar environmental issues,” noted Bassey, who was awarded the prestigious Rafto Prize, a Norwegian human rights award, in 2012.
He expressed deep concern over “increased desertification” in Nigeria’s northern regions, “gully erosion” in the south, widespread “deforestation,” and an escalating “environmental crisis stemming from illegal mining” across the country.
“Everything is Really Horrible.”
“The seeds for the degradation we are witnessing today, particularly in the oil and mining fields, were sown even when I was a child,” Bassey recounted. Born in the same year Nigeria began exporting crude oil, he has witnessed “a continuum of disaster upon disaster.”
Bassey grew up in a small village in southeastern Nigeria, surrounded by a family of farmers and traders. His early life was profoundly shaped by the “horrors” of the civil war, also known as the Biafra War, which tore through the region from 1967 to 1970, claiming at least one million civilian lives.
Initially trained as an architect, the acclaimed writer and poet first engaged in human rights advocacy, challenging the country’s military authorities. He later collaborated closely with Ken Saro-Wiwa, a revered “martyr for environmental justice” who was tragically executed by Sani Abacha’s military regime in 1995 for his courageous stand against the abuses of oil companies in the Delta.
After more than three decades of relentless activism, Bassey’s core demands remain unchanged: holding governments and polluting corporations “responsible,” restoring damaged environments, and ensuring reparations for affected communities.
Through his nearly 30-year-old foundation, Health of Mother Earth, Bassey is supporting a significant lawsuit initiated by a traditional monarch against the British oil giant Shell, seeking $2 billion in damages. King Bubaraye Dakolo also aims to prevent Shell from divesting its Nigerian assets until decades of environmental harm are properly addressed.
Oil companies consistently deny pollution allegations, often asserting that spills are primarily caused by sabotage from local criminals.
Despite his belief that the environmental crisis intensifies daily, Bassey finds renewed hope in the emergence of a new generation of young activists.
“There’s a big groundswell of people who are rising up… young people rising up,” he enthusiastically shared.
“I’m really very inspired. That’s positive.”