Prominent environmental rights activist, Comrade Mulade Sheriff, PhD, has sounded the alarm over severe coastal erosion endangering Obuguru Community in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State.
Mulade, called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Delta State Governor Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, and other stakeholders to intervene immediately to prevent the community’s possible displacement.
Mulade, National Coordinator of the Center for Peace and Environmental Justice (CEPEJ) and National Treasurer of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), said the Atlantic Ocean surge at the Forcados River estuary is rapidly washing away land in the oil-producing Ogulagha Kingdom. He warned that the erosion is threatening lives, ancestral homes, fishing settlements, property and the economic survival of residents.
“I am deeply disturbed by the worsening coastal erosion currently threatening the existence of the oil-bearing host community, Obuguru,” he said. “If urgent intervention measures are not immediately taken, the community faces the danger of total extinction and displacement.”
The activist demanded coordinated action from local, state and federal agencies to implement shoreline protection and erosion-control measures. He also urged the federal government and Oando Surgenal Limited (formerly Eni Agip Oil Company Nigeria Limited) to engage affected communities in a roundtable to address long-standing environmental and socio-economic challenges.
Mulade accused Oando Surgenal of abandoning the moribund Beniboye Flow Station and leaving nearby communities including Beniboye, Isiayegbene and Okuntu to bear decades of environmental damage from oil production, heavy boat traffic and wave action. He called for immediate valuation of environmental losses by internationally recognized assessors, payment of adequate compensation, remediation programs, and a comprehensive end-of-life plan for all abandoned oil facilities in the area.
“These communities have suffered enough,” Mulade said, urging that remediation, environmental justice and sustainable development be prioritized after years of oil extraction from their land.
Mulade, who is also a 2027 hopeful for Warri Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, said he remains committed to advocating for vulnerable Niger Delta communities.
Requests for comment sent to Oando Surgenal Limited and relevant government agencies were not immediately returned.