Environmental rights activist and Executive Director of homef.org Nnimmo Bassey, has raised concerns over the devastating impact of environmental pollution in the Niger Delta, revealing that life expectancy in the region has dropped to 41 years due to decades of ecological destruction and reckless oil exploitation.
Bassey spoke as keynote speaker at the 2026 Correspondents’ Week of the Correspondents’ Chapel (NUJ Rivers State) themed, “The Imperatives of Comprehensive Cleanup of the Niger Delta Environment: Role of the Media.”
Addressing journalists, environmental advocates and stakeholders at the event, the renowned environmentalist described the situation in the Niger Delta as a long-standing crisis rooted in colonial-era extractive policies that treated the region and its people as expendable.
According to him, the low life expectancy in the oil-rich region reflects the severe environmental and health consequences of oil pollution and environmental degradation.
“Life expectancy in the Niger Delta is 41 years. That is why those of us who have crossed that level are called living ancestors,” he said.
He noted that although some individuals may live beyond the average age, the statistics remain alarming and point to a deep public health emergency.
Bassey recounted an experience during a meeting with women in Ogoni communities where young women dominated discussions on oil pollution because many older women had died prematurely from pollution-related conditions.
“One young woman stood up and said pollution has stolen our mothers, and that is a fact,” he stated.
The environmental advocate lamented that funerals have become a regular occurrence in many Niger Delta communities, with many deceased persons dying at relatively young ages.
He argued that environmental degradation, political failures and economic exploitation in the region are not accidental but products of deliberate systems established during colonial rule and sustained under modern governance structures.
Tracing the roots of oil exploitation in Nigeria, Bassey explained that by 1937, the entire country had been concessioned to Shell and its partners under colonial arrangements that prioritised resource extraction over human and environmental wellbeing.
“The extractive activities in the Niger Delta are colonial constructs. Colonialism never operated for the benefit of the colonised people but for the benefit of the colonisers,” he said.
According to him, colonial systems viewed territories like the Niger Delta as “sacrifice zones” where the environment and the people were considered expendable in pursuit of economic gains.
He warned that the same exploitative mentality continues under neo-colonial structures, despite Nigeria’s political independence.
Bassey also criticized Nigeria’s continued dependence on fossil fuel expansion at a time many countries around the world are discussing energy transition and the gradual phase-out of fossil fuels.
He questioned the country’s repeated push to increase crude oil production while global conversations increasingly focus on renewable energy and climate responsibility.
The environmentalist further challenged claims that poor rural communities are primarily responsible for disruptions in oil production, insisting that many narratives blaming local people ignore larger systemic and political factors behind the crisis.
He urged journalists to investigate environmental issues beyond surface narratives and focus on uncovering the root causes of ecological destruction, governance failures and economic injustice in the Niger Delta.
According to him, the media has a critical role to play in reshaping public understanding of environmental justice and holding both government and corporate actors accountable.
The event attracted journalists, civil society organisations, traditional rulers, environmental experts and public officials from across Rivers State and the Niger Delta region.