The Pattern of Oil spill Incidents in the Niger Delta from 2006-2016

The Pattern of Oil spill Incidents in the Niger Delta from 2006-2016

Aim and objectives of Study

This study aims to examine the pattern of oil spill incidents in the Niger Delta from 2006-2016. And to achieve this, the following objectives have been identified.

• Examine the spatial pattern of oil spill incidents between 2006-2016 across the study area
• Examine the trend of oil spill incidents over the different periods (weekly, monthly, and yearly)
• To identify the days of the week, the months of the year, and the year within the study period with the highest oil spill incidents.
• Identify the space-time pattern of incidents (space-time emerging hotspots and cold spots) of the oil spill within the region.
• Analyze the pattern over different periods

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 

1.1  Background of the Study

In the immediate aftermath of WWII, oil spills became the latest environmental challenge, because nations around the world deviate from Coal as the primary source of energy and energy (petroleum), and Nigeria, as an oil-producing country, faces these chronic challenges associated with oil exploration and production and especially in the Niger Delta. Oil spill generally, all over the world is a problem that requires urgent and special attention by the government at different levels, cooperative organizations, communities, and individuals of goodwill to tackle, because of their damaging nature, oil spill whether it occurs on land or in water. Crude oil is a very complex, dangerous and poisonous, and naturally occurring chemical substance that kills or damages almost all living things and non-living things that it comes in contact with at any place and at any time. The Engineering facility design for the chemicals in the class of crude oil and its derivatives must have a very high safety assurance and very high control measures to ensure it does not escape from the facility carrying it and cause irreparable damages and losses that cannot be quantified by any means. Recently, oil spill events in Nigeria are turning into almost a daily occurrence, people are doing unimaginable things anytime and committing crimes against nature, the environment, and God to have money, not to mention the environmental and human problems that it can cause. In as much as oil spills of different magnitude due occur as a result of oil exploration, there are recommended containment measures and clean-up measures put in place as part of the process of exploration but oil company operators hardly obey them. However, there are many causes of an oil spill to the environment that are of interest, namely;

(1)       Operational Error

(2)      Equipment failure

(3)       Corrosion

(4)      Accident

(5) Third-party interference (sabotage).

Operational error; The oil facilities are designed based on the physical and chemical properties of crude oil, to ensure safety and ensure it does not escape of it in any form from the facility, beginning from the oil well down to the terminal, to the refinery, etc. Therefore any leakage or oil spill that occurred due to the operation of the oil facilities or equipment is called operational error. Nevertheless, our concern is on an oil spill, which is dangerous and hazardous to the environment and the ecosystem (Nosdra, 2006). Nevertheless from the discovery of crude oil and when oil exploration began in Nigeria, the Federal ministry of environment and Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), has been responsible for responding to oil spill matters in Nigeria. And then the third-party interference factors in oil spill incidents were not as obvious as it is today and data on oil spill incidents are not properly documented as it is currently by NOSDRA. Furthermore, by 2006, as the human factors or third-party interference and vandalism of oil facilities increased, that also increased the number of oil spill incidents was recorded. The establishment of the National oil spill contingency plan (NOSCP) complied with the international convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Cooperation (OPRC 90) to which Nigeria is a signatory. The Federal Government of Nigeria in compliance with the convention, established National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), through an Act of the parliament, called “national oil spill detection and response Agency Act 25 of 2006, published in the federal government Gazette 2006. The National Oil Detection and Response Agency is the office for the coordination and execution of the national oil spill contingency plan (NOSCP) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

(1)       Develop a reasonable national operational association that ensures a safe timely effective and appropriate response to the oil spill in Nigeria

(2)      Identify high-risk areas for protection and clean-up

(3)      Ensure the program of activation, pieces of training, and drill exercises to ensure readiness for oil spill pollution preparedness and the management of Operational Personnel.

(4)  Provide advisory services, technical support, and equipment to respond to major oil spill pollution incidents in the West African sub-region upon request by the neighboring country particularly, where part of the Nigeria tertiary is threatened.

(5)  Receive oil spillage reports and facilitate oil spill response activities in Nigeria.

(6) Carry out surveillance and ensure compliance with all existing environmental legislation and detection of oil spillage in the petroleum sector.

The National Oil Spill detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) is to carry out environmental regulations on oil and gas companies in the petroleum industry, from the function of the organization above it has no power to seal any oil company or stop their operation for defaulting rules, but has to pass through the court process or out of court settlement before they could pay any fine and in some situations, the amount to be paid has been consumed by the litigation processes.  NOSDRA, to perform its duties efficiently and effectively, launched Nigeria’s Oil Spill monitor (http://www.nigeriaoilspillmonitor.com) which is a Geographical information system (GIS). Where anybody can demand data on oil spill events identified with oil and gas in Nigeria, and it is on that platform, information for this research was made available.

The Niger Delta locale is a part of Nigeria and as indicated by the 1999 constitution, all land, up to 20 nautical miles into the sea belongs to the government and all assets underneath, it turns into wrongdoing against the express that any individual can tap any of its assets without the administration’s consent. All activities which include crude oil and gas, without authorization, permitting, or permitting in a quarter, turns into an unlawful venture to do as such, in particular,

(1) Illegal bunkering

(2) Artisanal crude oil refining

(3) Condensate taping

(4) Overloading of crude oil at the terminal

(5) Pipelines and oil facility vandalism

(6) Illegal sales of petroleum products.

All this illegal business on crude oil is tagged “sabotage” to the Nigeria Economy, of which the petroleum sector accounts for about 95% of revenue.

Space-time analysis projects the information in a real-time situation and displays emerging hotspots that will assist in predicting possible means of the outcome. Oil spillage is a crime against nature and humanity and is an emerging environmental issue in Nigeria therefore, space-time analysis will be applied to reveal trends that could help evaluate policies and programs for reducing oil spillage, also mitigating and stopping the crime of oil spill in Niger Delta of Nigeria.

1.2 Statement of Problem

The oil spill has turned into a perplexing and critical issue for the present environment, for the most part in Niger Delta Nigeria, how to protect the environment from oil pollution which has continued to deteriorate the ecosystem, human health, biodiversity, and the forest and their resources that lives depend on for survival, has kept on decaying. Consequences for nature, human wellbeing, harm to financial issues in the economy, and the debasement of host communities or communities inside the Niger Delta have been brought about by oil spills and oily waste. Oil spills in Nigeria can be locally or worldwide in scale, among other major ecological problems, for example, global climatic change, and air pollution. The spill of crude oil into the environment accidentally or through anthropogenic activity is a noteworthy reason for water and soil pollution and can likewise prompt local air contamination (Ite, 2013). (Ite, 2013).

The issue of oil spillages in the Niger Delta of Nigeria is turning into perplexing and impervious to numerous solutions that the government and the oil company operators have applied and that have made next to zero progress. The government had taken different measures including criminalizing and sending the security forces to the Niger Delta and expanding flying observation of oil facilities. The occurrence of raw petroleum and its implication is to a greater degree a social issue than an issue of lawfulness.

Ite, Ibok, Ite, and Peters (2013) Examined the effects of the past and present contribution to the Niger Delta condition by multinational oil companies and the government of Nigeria and feature some issues of environmental degradation emerging from unsustainable practices associated with oil exploration and production, in the Niger Delta.

Kadafa, Mohamad, and Othma (2012) researched the contamination and the oil spillage in Nigeria just as the authoritative and institutional structure and found that the region is being changed over into an ecological wasteland by oil companies, exploration, and production.

Wu., Guo., Guan., Sun.,& Zhou (2014). Investigated clusters of spatial-temporal and space-time distribution of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in Liaoning province North-eastern China and find that the result of their work will not only assist health departments to develop a better prevention strategy but also potentially increase the public health intervention’s effectiveness.

Spatial-temporal data analysis is an emerging research area due to the development and application of novel computational techniques allowing for the analysis of large Spatio-temporal data sets; describes a spatial and temporal phenomenon that exists at a certain time t and location x. Having critically examined the previous research on the issue of space-time analysis of oil spill incidents in the Niger Delta, and the persistence of the problem in the Niger Delta Region and society in general, it is obvious that no work has been done on space-time analysis and if there is any, the data are not current and not to prevent further occurrence. Hence this thesis is a space-time analysis of oil spill incidents in Niger Delta Nigeria from 2006-2016.

1.3 Aim and objectives of Study

This study aims to examine the space-time pattern of oil spill incidents in the Niger Delta from 2006-2016. And to achieve this, the following objectives have been identified.

• Examine the spatial pattern of oil spill incidents between 2006-2016 across the study area
• Examine the trend of oil spill incidents over the different periods (weekly, monthly, and yearly)
• To identify the days of the week, the months of the year, and the year within the study period with the highest oil spill incidents.
• Identify the space-time pattern of incidents (space-time emerging hotspots and cold spots) of the oil spill within the region.
• Analyze the pattern over different periods.

1.4 Research Question

Are the locations of incidents random?

What is the number of incidents by day of the week?

What is the number of incidents by the month of the year?

What is the number of incidents by year?

Is there statistically significant space-time clustering of incidents across the study area?

1.5 Hypothesis (Method of Analysis)

(1) H₀; the pattern of the incident is not different and random

(2) H₀; There is no statistically significant space-time clustering of incidents across the study area.

1.6 Scope of the study

The fundamental focal point of this research is on spatial and Spatio-temporal coverage of oil spill events in the Niger Delta from 2006 to 2016. This examination is bound to the data from the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) 2006-2016 on oil spill occurrences recorded by the Nigeria oil Spill Monitor. However, the oil spill incidents caused by the Federal government’s Joint taskforce (JTF) against illegal oil activities are not parts.

1.7 Significance of Study

This examination will uncover patterns and hotspots of oil spill events and guide policymakers and managers to allot scarce resources satisfactorily. It will help find the best position for the location of oil spill response centers in the Niger Delta and the country in general, in this way decreasing the time expected to deploy oil spill equipment and respond, subsequently diminishing the volume and effect in the region and their natural impacts. It will assist the security organizations in understanding the location and where to position their security officers, to fight the crime of oil spills This study will be critical for the companies, bodies, and individuals;

• Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

(2) Law enforcement Agencies; (I) Nigerian Police, (ii) National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), (iii) Nigeria Navy, and (iv) Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC). (v) Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC).

(3) The Regulatory Agencies; (I) National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA). (ii) NIMASA (iii) Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

(4) Ministries of the Environment

(5) Ministry of Petroleum Resources

(6) Oil Company Operators

(7) Researchers in the field of learning improvement and application.

1.8 Study Area

Nigeria is a nation blessed with a lot of resources, from solid, and liquid to gas. These resources are scattered in all the regions, some are tapped completely and others are not fully tapped, while many are not tapped by any means. Nigeria, in any case, is separated into 36 States, including Abuja, the federal capital domain, for authoritative comfort and even improvement of the country over. These 36 states are additionally gathered into regions for political and economic purposes. These districts or regions include nations with close topography, close social spatial characters, and restricted natural highlights. The Niger Delta is known as the South-South region of Nigeria and comprises six (6) states.

Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Edo, and Rivers State. This is the locale and area of the nation where oil assets are essentially found in Nigeria and where there has been a significant number of oil spills. It is additionally inclined to unrefined petroleum and gas theft because of its land characteristics with wetland, ocean, and sea and an assortment of regular assets (Ite, 2013). The Niger Delta Region is situated on the Gulf of Guinea Apex, on Africa’s west coast, and in the geopolitical zone of Nigeria’s south-south. The area of The Niger Delta reached out to the Atlantic coast, Benue River to Bonny River toward the west of the Niger River, all in southern Nigeria. It outskirts the Atlantic Ocean in the Gulf of Guinea, around 853 km away. A progression of estuaries framing the Niger Delta Swamp amidst which the lower Niger River channels water into the Atlantic Ocean intrudes on the coast. The northern outskirt of Lake Oguta starts at the Niger River from the Orashi River, where water courses through the Sombrero valley from the lake Oguta (Ogbuide) to the Degama tidal water. The investigation vitality passageway streams in the south and separates into the Focados and Num Rivers at the north end of the ebb and flows Bayelsa State exactly to the Atlantic coast (Ossai 2002). The zone is the world’s third largest wetland and lifts the fourth biggest mangrove zone. The locale has an abundance of regular assets, marine assets, for example, fish, oil, and flammable gas, from the beachfront waters of the Atlantic. The Delta is home to noteworthy biodiversity (some endemic) and contains a few mineral resources, for example, marble, barite, calcareous columns, sand, and rock. Zone range a sum of 70,000 km2 containing wetlands, streams, brooks, estuaries, marshes, and mangrove overwhelms, the biggest wetland in Africa and one of the world’s three biggest and the biggest mangrove overwhelms in Africa (ARPE 2011). The Zone is the biggest of the world’s biggest wetlands.

1.9 Niger Delta’s demography

The evaluation figures for area occupants have been assessed at 20,000,000, as per the National Bureau of Statistics 2006. Age structure in the region is portrayed by statistical qualities and the fundamental normal for the young population who are 62% under 30 years old. Grown-ups in the 30-69years, age bunch make up 36% of the populace and those 70 years old make up 2%.

Notwithstanding, as per the Niger Delta Regional Development Master Plan (NDRDMP), the outcomes demonstrate that in the area there were overwhelmingly more males(54 %) than females (46 %), just as males heads of families(93 %) than females (7 %). The typical size of the family unit is 6 persons with huge contrasts between state, nearby and senatorial locale. As a rule in neighborhood networks, family unit sizes are bigger (8 individuals for each family by and large).

1.10 Vegetation

The investigation territory of the sub-region is isolated into four comprehensively recognizable physical and vegetative highlights

(i)        The freshwater swamp with rainforest vegetation of crisp water is found on its north end,

(ii)       The saltwater swamp, overwhelmingly mangrove,

(iii)     The coastal sand-based beach front sand edges and

(iv)     The seaward (Scott,1966).

These diverse sorts of vegetation are related to various soil units in the region and structure some portion of the perplexing environment in the sub-region. A few jeopardized and even imperiled plant and creature species (www.onlinenigeria.com/interface/Bayelsa) are found in parts of the freshwater swamp forest in the state. The Niger Delta coast is ensured short of what one meter above high tide by the Niger Mangrove Forest and beachfront vegetation zone: a chain of low sandy obstruction islands, in the Benin Estuary.

Freshwater swamp woods with infrequent minimal salt bogs is the predominant vegetation where water washes over delightful shorelines. Since the inadequately depleted and sandy soils don’t advance farming, forests are not changed legitimately into agricultural land. Further inland, inside the mangrove zone, likewise sandy outcrops with freshwater vegetation. They likewise give new water, similar to the Barrier Islands, which is basic to humans and mangroves. New Water Swamp Forest Zone: The zone covers around 17,000 square kilometers or a large portion of the Delta territory. The zone is the fundamental wellspring of timber and wood items in the district and contains key regions for uncommon and imperiled natural life. Contingent upon the hydrological nature, there are significant varieties in the biology and advancement capability of the swamp forests. The swamp woodlands, subject to Niger’s residue-filled, white waters, have an extraordinary potential for fishery and farming. The region is two wide territories: (a) The Upper Delta or the Flood Forest region and

(b) The Swampy Tidal region. The territory ‘ The Upper Delta,” Flood Forest’ (Aboh to Bomadi and Oporoma) has extensive, sandy waterway channels, and a ripe flood residue, which takes into account yearly, decrepit free developments, repays in the abbreviated ranch season. There is an always swampy, tidal freshwater zone between Flodden woods and the mangrove region, with smaller and muddier channels (the’ change’ and’ Marsh Forest ‘ zones). Swamp Rain Forest region: This territory covers territories not riverine or’ upland,’ flanked by the delta. The region’s characteristic rainforest is to a great extent cleared for agribusiness, with for the most part agricultural bramble, edited, and neglected mosaic, regularly with various oil palms, ranches, and, specifically, the oil palm and elastic being the primary kinds of vegetation. Open-cultivating regions lead to the presentation of intrusive or savannah-type meadows. The absolute woodland species in old wilderness land may endure, yet most have disappeared because of shorter wilderness times. The requests of an expanding populace are inferable. A couple of minor kinds of vegetation remain semi-common in zones unacceptable for cultivating. These incorporate marsh forest in the touches of melancholy that are occasionally overpowered, on the edge of streams, riparian woods in the Sobo plain, and, now and again, savannah-like fields in Obagi territory. Be that as it may, the minor agribusiness of the short-season plants and woods is progressively pressurized in these zones. Savannah Area determined: this is situated in the northern piece of the locale. In the wake of clearing the first rainforest woodland for cultivation, the vegetation type in this zone appears to re-wrinkle. It incorporates grass and bush sort Savannah, with a couple of scattered trees. It is unthinkable for trees to develop because of consistent human activities.

1.11 Geomorphology

The geomorphology of the zone of study may be isolated into three guideline conditions specifically the territory, transitional and marine circumstances. Five vital geomorphological units have been seen in the Niger Delta (Allen, 1965); Short and (Stauble, 1967) these include:

• Active and abandoned waterfront shorelines
• Saltwater mangrove swamps
• Freshwater swamps, back bogs deltaic plan, alluvium, and meander belt
• Dry deltaic plan with abundant bog zones, Sombrero Warri plain
• Dry level land and plain

Geomorphology of Niger Delta;

They join Benin formation, the Agbada course of action, and the Akata game plan. The Akata formation is made of shale spared as turbidity and terrain slant channel fills, while the Agbada is transcendently sandstone and shale’s hindered by different advancement defects. The Benin course of action included porous sands and shale with bound shale and soils interbed happening point bars or occupy fills and stores in a spoiled fluvial condition.

The Geology and Geomorphology of the Niger Delta have been portrayed in nuances by various Authors among are (Allen,1965); (Akpokodje,1979)(1986); (Assez,1972); (Doust and Omotsola,1990); (Short and Stauble,1965);( Evamy et al, 1978).

The Delta course of action contains an upward coarsening in a reverse relationship of tertiary clad up to 12km thick (Doust, 1990). It is confined to three gross lithe faces;

• Marine earth stones and shale of about 6.5km thick at the base (Akata course of action)
• Alternations of sandstones, siltstones, and earth stones of about 3.5km thick (Agbada courses of action); and
• Alluvial sands of about 2km thick at the top (Benin formation), (Doust,1990).

1.12  Land Use/Land Cover

Land cover(LC) implies the physical spread on the land (the layer of soils and biomass) including basic vegetation, harvests, and artificial constructions that spread the land surface Anderson et al (1976); (Cambell,1996); (Verburg, 2000). Land utilization of course insinuates the genuine usage of the land which is the purpose behind which man abuses the land cover (Cambell,1996); (Omoyola,1997). The land use land cover (LULC) has ended up being logically basic as Nigeria expects to overcome the issues of aimless, uncontrolled progression, disintegrating environmental quality loss of prime provincial grounds, demolition of fundamental wetlands, and loss of fish and untamed life normal environment. One of the prime basics for better usage of land is information on existing territory use-land cover precedents and changes in land use through time, since land use-land cover change isn’t an event anyway a technique, it might be understood and predicted incredible before time. Learning of the present scattering and locale of such plant, recreational and urban territories similarly to information on their changing degrees is required by administrators, planners, and local government experts to choose a better land use approach, to verify transportation and utility enthusiasm, to recognize future improvement. Back and forth movement land use and land cover data are required by the federal government, regional (Niger Delta Regional Development Master Plan), state government, and local government and specific improvement associations for water resources stock, flood control, water supply planning, wastewater treatment plan and control of urban improvement, assurance of normal delicate zones. Various local associations required expansive inventories of existing activities on open landscapes united with the present and changing businesses of private grounds to improve the organization of open territories. Close-by workplaces moreover need land use data to assess the environmental impact coming about as a result of the improvement of essentialness resources, to administer untamed life resources and farthest point man-characteristic life organic framework conflicts, to make national once-overs of land use precedents and changes of national methodology definition and to guarantee natural impact declarations and study future consequences for biological technique. Land spread change insinuates a complete or partial course of action of one spread sort by another. Land use change consolidates the modification of land cover sorts, without changing its general portrayal (Verburg, Chen, Seopboer, and Vehkamp, 2000). Overall stresses of land use and land cover mapping have extended on account of the relationship between the land surface, and natural change is a critical driver of the earth’s water and imperativeness cycle (Mahmood et al, 2000). Utilization in wetlands has demonstrated a negative impact on water and imperativeness advances similarly to other close surface environment components (Pielke et al, 2002).