Niger Delta still waiting for oil cleanup

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OLEH, Nigeria, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- A year after a U.N. report said the Ogoniland region in Nigeria should be the site of the biggest oil spill cleanup ever, activists say nothing has happened.

The activists say it still isn't clear who will pay for the cleanup, and the oil company and the government are arguing about money and responsibility, Voice of America reported.

Ogoni leaders met with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan this week to urge the government carry out recommendations in the U.N. Environment Program study. The study found drinking water contained 900 times the carcinogens considered safe by the World Health Organization and as much as 3 inches of oil was in groundwater.

"Our water is polluted. Our health is in hazard form," Lizzy Ologe, a school teacher in Oleh, told VOA in an article published Thursday. "In fact, we have high mortality rates, especially our little children. We no longer live to old age."

In the 1990s, after nearly 40 years of oil spills, Nigerians forced Shell Oil, out of Ogoniland, VOA said.

The U.N. study called for a 25- to 30-year cleanup funded with $1 billion in the beginning, but didn't say who was responsible financially, VOA said. The government says oil companies should be responsible and the oil companies agree up to a point, blaming most of the spills on sabotage and regional instability.