CNN
Last month, Amnesty International said that pollution and other environmental effects from the oil industry in the Niger Delta are creating a “human rights tragedy” in which local people suffer poor health and loss of livelihood.
Governments and oil companies are failing to be accountable for the problems, Amnesty said in its report, called “Petroleum, Pollution and Poverty in the Niger Delta.”
But the state oil company said it was local communities that cause much of the environmental damage by vandalizing pipelines for monetary gain.
“We take environmental damage very seriously,” said Levi Ajuonoma, a spokesman for Nigerian National Petroleum Corp.
“Pipeline damage is a major cause of pollution,” Ajuonoma said, blaming “communities who… vandalize pipelines and make claims on the oil company operating in the area.”
The Niger Delta is a region in Nigeria consisting of nine oil-producing states. Covering 46,500 square miles (75,000 square kilometers), it is about the same size as the Czech Republic or Pennsylvania, according to the U.N. Development Program.