Coastal communities in Niger Delta at risk of being submerged by 2070 ~ Reports

Some coastal communities in the Niger Delta may be submerged by 2070, according to reports on the state of environmental degradation in the Niger Delta conducted at the Rivers State University.

This follows worsening cases of flooding, environmental degradation and ravaging pollution in the region.

Kenneth Ordu, professor and Provost, College of Medical Sciences, Rivers State University (RSU), Port Harcourt, made this known on the sidelines of the West African Society of Pharmacologists (WASP) conference, organized by the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, College of Medical Sciences of the University.

Ordu said the scourge of environmental degradation poses a dangerous risk to various villages and communities that reside in the creeks and river banks in the Niger Delta, noting that the situation in the region has been worsened by the impact of climate change occasioned by increased water levels and ravaging coastal erosions.

“There is report that almost all the villages around the creeks in the Niger Delta may be submerged in water by 2070. That’s what the scourge looks like,” he said.

Ordu urged government, individuals and organizations to take preventive measures to ensure that such projections do not occur, adding that research conferences such as that organised by the Department of Pharmacology of the institution are meant to provide solutions towards averting impending dangers and disasters that may happen.

The Provost stated that recommendations of the conference, which had its theme as, ‘The Scourge of Environmental Pollution and Climate Change in the West African Sub Region,’ will be forwarded to the government to seek for more actions on ways of mitigating the scourge of environmental degradation and climate change.

“There is no natural disasters that does not have solutions. That is why warnings come before anything happens for preventive measures to be put in place,” he said.

Ordu condemned the government policy of distributing palliatives to victims of environmental disasters, adding that it merely treats the symptoms instead of providing curative measures.

The Provost who described the RSU College of Medicine as the best in the country with over 577 qualified personnel, pointed out that the rating has put the college in tight position to ensure that it sustains and maintains the standards already achieved.

“So we need improvements in infrastructure, manpower and departmental needs. If we don’t manage our success well. It won’t survive like it happened in the premier universities,” he said.

Ordu called for support from the state government, individuals and organisations to make the RSU Medical School a world class model and the best globally.

Paul Nwafor, also a Professor, called for proper identifications of environmental degradations in the region and the immediate and thorough cleaning of the impacted areas to enable the residents have new lease of life, stressing the need to replicate the Ogoni remediation clean up in other areas of the Niger Delta.

Nwafor however expressed disappointment over the poor implementation of infrastructural projects in the region, lamenting that his Umuechem community which hosts lots of oil wells and produces the world’s best crude oil, the Bonny Light crude, still lives in abject poverty and squalor with no basic infrastructures.

Ching Poh, Professor and President of WASP, while expressing delight at the success of the conference called for more attention on the health and environmental problems affecting the society adding that health is wealth.

Christian Uraka, Head of Department, Pharmacology and Chairman, Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the conference, identified climate change and environmental degradation as topical issues that have attracted global discussions adding that the Niger Delta has suffered unmitigated cases of environmental issues such as pollution arising from crude oil spill, wastes materials and other forms of pollution on the environment which he said has caused a lot of changes and challenges in the ecosystem of the region.

Uraka lamented the recent upsurge of such diseases like cancer, ear, nose and throat (ENT) infections among others, as a result of environmental pollution and degradations adding that it was the reason that the Medical college had to assemble astute researchers across the globe to brainstorm on the way forward.

He therefore called on the nation’s policy makers to enact relevant laws and policies that will improve the well-being of humanity.