By George OPARA
Oilwatch International is demanding for $1 trillion for the clean up of oil-polluted communities across the Niger Delta region.
The demand for the environmental remediation fund was made during its 2026 stakeholders’ meeting titled: “Reclaiming Ecological Integrity: A Frontline Community Partnership for Ecological Healing” held in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.
Mr. Kentebe Ebiaridor, Oilwatch Coordinator said decades of environmental pollution had stripped many Niger Delta residents of their dignity and livelihoods.
He explained that the initiative seeks to address the long-term impacts of pollution and restore affected communities’ connection with their environment.
Further, Ebiaridor urged the federal government to move beyond rhetoric and take deliberate steps toward environmental restoration across the Niger Delta.
He emphasized that the ongoing clean up efforts in Ogoniland and Bayelsa State should be expanded to cover all polluted communities in the region.
He also called for economic diversification, insisting that dependence on oil is unsustainable as the world gradually transitions from fossil fuels.
In his remarks, Chief Operating Officer of Environmental Conservation Agriculture and Rural Development (ECARD), Chief Alagoa Morris, described the Bayelsa State environmental report as a major milestone.
Morris, who doubles as technical adviser on environment to the Bayelsa State government, said the report provides a framework for wider environmental restoration efforts.
He was optimistic that the United Nations-backed cleanup model in Ogoniland would be extended to Bayelsa and other polluted Niger Delta communities.
Morris said civil society groups must sustain advocacy for environmental justice, public health, and livelihood restoration in affected communities.
Meanwhile, he added that operators in the extractive sector must be held accountable under the “polluter pays” principle and compelled to remediate damaged ecosystems.
However, a lecturer at Niger Delta University, Dr. Charles Oyibo, said environmental degradation continues to threaten livelihoods and expose communities to health risks.
Oyibo insisted that oil exploration has historically prioritised economic gains over environmental protection, leaving communities to bear the consequences.
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