Why journalists should intensify scrutiny of oil companies in Niger Delta – Nnimmo Bassey

Environmental activists say the media must resist corporate narratives and independently investigate pollution incidents.

Environmental activist Nnimmo Bassey has called on journalists covering Nigeria’s Niger Delta to intensify scrutiny of oil companies and government regulators, saying sustained investigative reporting is critical to exposing environmental abuses in the region.

Mr Bassey made the call on Monday while speaking at the 2026 Correspondents’ Week organised by the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Rivers State Council, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Delivering a lecture titled “The Imperatives of Comprehensive Cleanup of the Niger Delta Environment: Role of the Media,” Mr Bassey accused oil firms of manipulating public opinion and downplaying the extent of oil exploration pollution activities.

“The media has the duty and capacity to report the ecocide happening in the Niger Delta factually and in real time,” he said.

“The thing the polluters dread most is having their harmful acts exposed and placed in the public domain.”

‘Media must not be gullible’

Mr Bassey asked journalists not to rely solely on official narratives from oil companies after pollution incidents.

According to him, many spills caused by equipment failure are routinely blamed on sabotage or illegal refining activities before investigations are concluded.

“A major win for the oil companies is that many people now get to believe that oil spills and other pollutions in the region are caused by community people rather than the failure of poorly maintained equipment,” he said.

He alleged that oil firms spend heavily on media relations and perception management to shape public understanding of environmental incidents.

Mr Bassey also criticised what he described as oil companies’ efforts to “deodorise” their public image by rebranding themselves as energy corporations.

“This new nomenclature deodorises the oil company label and shows them as indispensable in the global quest for energy,” he said.

Calls for field-based reporting

The activist called on journalists to visit affected communities, conduct independent investigations and verify claims surrounding oil spills and environmental degradation.

He said the media should provide space for affected residents to tell their stories and hold both regulators and oil operators accountable.

Mr Bassey also encouraged collaboration between journalists and citizen reporters in local communities to improve documentation of environmental incidents.

According to him, social media reports on oil spills and pollution incidents have heightened the need for accurate, professionally verified environmental reporting.

Cleanup demands

Beyond media scrutiny, Mr Bassey renewed calls for comprehensive environmental and health audits across the Niger Delta and immediate remediation of polluted sites.

He also demanded urgent action on abandoned oil infrastructure, gas flaring and long-burning oil well fires in parts of the region.

PREMIUM TIMES recently reported a call by the Niger Delta groups for the audit of abandoned oil wells in the region.

Mr Bassey said decades of oil exploration had left severe ecological and public health consequences across oil-producing communities.

Invoking the words of slain Ogoni environmental campaigner Ken Saro-Wiwa, Mr Bassey warned that “silence on this matter would be treason.”