The U.N. environmental and development agencies are launching a joint assessment of oil contamination in the Ogoni region of the Niger Delta as part of a broader Nigerian government-led peace and reconciliation program. Exploration and production of oil in the region, which began in the 1950s, were suspended in the 1990s due to public unrest. Spills from the past are still problematic, and the lack of maintenance and damage to infrastructure has led to further contamination over the past 15 years. U.N. officials were in Abuja on Monday to finalize details of the project, which seeks to ascertain the nature and extent of oil contamination in Ogoniland. The project is expected to be completed at the end of next year. U.N. officials are meeting with other U.N. agencies in Nigeria as well as the Nigerian environmental minister, representatives from the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, and the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria. “The assessment will seek to identify, evaluate, and minimize the immediate and long-term human, social, health, and economic impacts of oil contamination in Ogoniland, as well as those related to environmentally and economically important ecosystems,” said U.N. Environment Program executive director Achim Steiner.
