Impact of Oil Spill on the Inhabitants of Bodo Area of Ogoni Land, River State, Nigeria

Background and Objective: Due to the serious problem of oil spillage, especially the oil spill of 2008, many of the inhabitants were rendered jobless and homeless, and it even impacted their health. The aim of this work, therefore, was to assess the impacts of the oil spill on the inhabitants of the Bodo Area of Ogoni Land in Rivers State, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: Satellite imagery over the area was sourced from NASRDA (NigeriaSat-1, 2007, and NigeriaSat-x, 2012), taken before and after the spills, respectively. These images were analyzed to determine the effect of the oil spill on land cover changes, particularly the mangrove, and to ascertain the changes that took place before and after the oil spill. Erdas 9.2 software was used for the image’s unsupervised classification, which was later moved to ArcMap for image layout view. Questionnaires were administered to extract information based on the impact of the oil spill as it affected the inhabitants of the area. Results: There are changes in land cover in terms of vegetation cover, bare land/grassland, water bodies, and developed areas. The results also show that the oil spill has negative impacts on the environment and socio-economic life of the inhabitants of the area, such as the death of aquatic life, freshwater contamination, loss of jobs and livelihoods, and environmental degradation. Conclusion: A thorough Environmental Impact Assessment (E.I.A.) should be conducted before oil exploration and exploitation in oil-rich regions (Bodo Area inclusive); there should be immediate dispersal of information concerning spillages and immediate cleanup and compensation of the affected people, as the case may be. Finally, GIS should be used to identify areas of spill coverage and provide information about the closest resources for oil spill response equipment and personnel.