Health
Oil pollution threatens Nigeria’s sustainability goals, experts warn
By Dare Olawin
Communication experts have warned that oil pollution, flooding and other environmental challenges continue to threaten Nigeria’s sustainability goals, urging oil companies to engage more effectively with host communities.
The experts, Prof Abdullahi Bashir and Prof Angela Nwammuo, spoke in separate presentations at the second NNPC Foundation Symposium on Energy and Environmental Communication, held recently at Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos. The event brought together stakeholders from academia, the media, policy circles and the development community to discuss the role of environmental communication in promoting sustainable development and climate resilience.
The two-day symposium was organised by the Centre for Media and Communication Research of Pan-Atlantic University in partnership with the NNPC Foundation.
In her presentation, Nwammuo, a professor of Mass Communication at Southern Delta University, Ozoro, Delta State, warned that environmental degradation continued to undermine sustainability efforts across Nigeria.
Presenting a paper titled, “Strategic Environmental Communication for Promoting Sustainability in Nigeria,” Nwammuo said environmental sustainability depended not only on policies and technology but also on how environmental issues were communicated, understood and acted upon.
She noted that Nigeria faced severe environmental challenges, particularly in oil-producing areas and communities vulnerable to climate-related disasters. “Nigeria is not left out of this global pandemic. The country, just like others, faces significant environmental challenges that continue to negate sustainability,” she said.
According to Nwammuo, oil pollution, gas flaring, flooding, erosion, deforestation, poor waste management and other climate-related disasters have intensified concerns over environmental governance and ecological sustainability.
Drawing attention to the Niger Delta, she said, “The Niger Delta Region of Nigeria is plagued by severe environmental degradation and pollution due to years of oil exploration and exploitation.”
She added that affected communities had experienced “oil spills, gas flaring and pipeline leakages resulting in contaminated water bodies, destruction of farmlands and endangered public health.” Nwammuo said the environmental problems had also contributed to social unrest and economic instability in several communities across the region.
On climate change, she observed that communities across the country were increasingly grappling with flooding, erosion, drought, desertification and irregular rainfall patterns. According to her, these developments had negatively affected agricultural productivity, food security and livelihoods.
The professor further identified environmental illiteracy as a major obstacle to sustainability. “Low level of environmental awareness and ecological literacy among Nigerian citizens in both urban and rural areas contribute to challenges facing the achievement of sustainability in Nigeria,” she said.
To tackle the challenges, Nwammuo advocated strategic environmental communication, which she described as a deliberate, research-based and goal-oriented communication process designed to influence environmental attitudes, behaviour and policies.
She argued that environmental communication should move beyond reactive responses to environmental disasters and become more proactive, participatory and solution-driven.
The scholar identified environmental awareness campaigns, behavioural change communication, stakeholder engagement, corporate environmental responsibility, policy advocacy and community participation as key approaches to promoting sustainability.
She also called for the institutionalisation of environmental communication across government agencies and stronger engagement with traditional and religious leaders to drive environmental awareness at the grassroots.
According to her, strategic communication could strengthen environmental governance, improve corporate accountability and encourage citizens to adopt environmentally responsible practices.
“Strategic environmental communication remains crucial and indispensable in the promotion of sustainability in Nigeria. Environmental challenges are not merely scientific or technological problems; they are fundamentally communication and behavioural issues requiring collective action and societal transformation.”
The professor urged policymakers, media professionals, corporate organisations, including oil firms, and citizens to embrace effective communication as a critical tool for protecting the environment and securing a sustainable future.
The experts agreed that while environmental challenges such as oil pollution, flooding, gas flaring, deforestation and climate change continue to threaten Nigeria’s development, stronger communication, public participation and coordinated action could help build resilience and promote long-term sustainability.
Delivering a keynote address titled, “Practical Pathways for the Use of Environmental Communication for Climate Resilience in Nigeria,” Bashir, a professor in the Department of Information, Journalism and Media Studies, University of Abuja, said Nigeria faced a wide range of environmental challenges, including pollution, desertification, flooding, gas flaring, bush burning, deforestation, climate change and improper waste disposal.
According to him, the impact of these challenges cuts across all segments of society, making it imperative for citizens, governments, businesses and communities to play active roles in addressing them. Bashir said climate change remained one of the most significant environmental threats confronting the country and the wider world.
Quoting the International Monetary Fund’s definition of climate resilience, he said, “Climate change resilience is the capacity of social, economic and natural ecosystems to anticipate, prepare for, absorb and recover from climate-related hazards and long-term stresses.”
He noted that climate change manifests through extreme heat, flooding, sea-level rise, storms and other weather-related events, with consequences for livelihoods, infrastructure and economic activities.
The don identified ecosystem restoration, resilient infrastructure, early warning systems and community empowerment as critical pillars for building climate resilience.
He explained that ecosystem restoration through nature-based solutions such as wetlands, forests and mangroves could help reduce the impact of floods and extreme temperatures, while investments in resilient infrastructure would enable power, transport and water systems to withstand adverse weather conditions.
Bashir also stressed the importance of deploying early warning systems and advanced monitoring technologies to help vulnerable communities prepare for disasters.
He maintained that communication remained a vital tool in promoting resilience and encouraging adaptation to climate risks. “Communication is an important enabler of climate resilience. The society must consider its potential to promote climate resilience,” he said.
Bashir further argued that climate change communication had evolved globally from merely reporting weather and climate conditions to addressing misinformation, denial narratives and public engagement.
He, however, identified several challenges confronting environmental communication, including the complexity of climate information, political polarisation, misinformation, communication overload and public apathy.
To address the challenges, Bashir called for greater investment in environmental communication and capacity building for communicators. He recommended more training for journalists, social media influencers and other public communicators in climate resilience.
He also advocated increased funding for climate communicators, more research on communication and resilience, and stronger collaboration among the media, government institutions and local communities in information dissemination, public education and early warning systems.
The acting Managing Director of the NNPC Foundation, Mrs Eugenia Dominion, commended the organisers for convening what she described as a timely platform for critical dialogue, knowledge sharing and stakeholder engagement at a time when climate change, energy transition, environmental degradation and sustainable development have become defining issues across the world.
“It is my great pleasure to be here today on behalf of the NNPC Foundation as we join the Centre for Media and Communication Research of Pan-Atlantic University for this important two-day symposium on energy and environment communication,” Dominion said.
She added that the outgoing NNPC Foundation Managing Director, Emmanuella Arukwe, initiated the project with the university and made significant sacrifices to ensure its success.
The NNPC Foundation is the corporate social responsibility arm of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, focused on sustainable development and community engagement.
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