LAGOS — Senior Advocate of Nigeria Olisa Agbakoba has challenged candidates in the 2027 presidential election to make environmental recovery in the Niger Delta a central national issue.
Agbakoba, who chairs the Niger Delta Environmental Justice Lawyers’ Forum, said presidential candidates should tell Nigerians what they intend to do about decades of pollution and environmental degradation in the country’s oil producing communities.
The forum is proposing the creation of a Niger Delta Environmental Restoration and Compensation Authority established by law and given responsibility for coordinating environmental remediation and compensation.
Its position was contained in a document titled “From Oloibiri to Renewal: An Agenda for an Environmental Recovery Compact for Nigeria’s 2027 Presidential Candidates.”
The organisation said it was not supporting any political party or presidential candidate.
Instead, it wants environmental recovery placed firmly on the election agenda.
Oil was discovered at Oloibiri in 1956, beginning a petroleum industry that has generated enormous revenues for Nigeria while leaving many producing communities with serious environmental challenges.
The forum said decades of reports, court cases and investigations had documented pollution, inadequate remediation, weak enforcement and damage to livelihoods.
Yet responsibility remains divided among different institutions.
Agbakoba’s group wants a single statutory authority capable of coordinating environmental restoration and ensuring accountability.
The proposed institution would review recommendations from major investigations stretching back decades, including the Willink Commission, the Technical Committee on the Niger Delta, the United Nations Environment Programme assessment of Ogoniland and the Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission.
The forum also drew attention to the death of Joy Amos following an alleged gas explosion in Bille Kingdom, Rivers State.
Amos reportedly suffered severe burns during an incident on September 3, 2026 and later died at the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital.
The PILEX Centre for Civic Education Initiative has requested a Coroner’s Inquest to determine the cause and circumstances of her death.
The petition seeks examination of medical records, photographs, videos, eyewitness testimony and other evidence surrounding the alleged gas leakage and explosion.
It also seeks to establish whether any company, operator, individual or government institution bears responsibility.
Those questions remain subject to investigation and should not be treated as established findings.
The lawyers’ forum wants an independent investigation, emergency protection for residents and appropriate compensation where responsibility is established.
It is also proposing a transparent polluter pays funding system, stronger cleanup standards, spill prevention, livelihood restoration and greater public accountability.
For Agbakoba, the central question ahead of 2027 is no longer whether the Niger Delta has suffered environmental damage.
It is whether Nigeria’s next government is prepared to turn decades of reports and promises into measurable action.
