8 Oil Pollution in Coastal Waters of Nigeria
163
State Ministries of Environment. A National Oil Spill Contingency Plan has been
set up by the National Oil Spill Response Advisory Committee. Each operating oil
company is required to have a contingency plan for the prevention, control and removal of spilled oil from its own facilities. In addition, Clean Nigeria Associates
(CNA) founded in 1981, a consortium of eleven oil companies operating in Nigeria,
can be called upon by members when faced with spills beyond the capability of own
resources. Despite the level of the Government and oil industries activities, oil spill
management in Nigeria is relatively undeveloped (Nwilo and Badejo 2001, 2007;
Egberongbe et al. 2006).
In 2000 the Federal Government of Nigeria established the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) which aims to suppress the impact of petroleum pollution
on the Niger Delta environment. Governmental and nongovernmental organizations
have also utilized some technologies to identify the source, volume and trajectories
of oil spills (Nwilo and Badejo 2001, 2007; Egberongbe et al. 2006; Wikipedia
2012b). Unfortunately there is little information about these technologies, thus it is
difficult to compare them with satellite, aerial and marine technologies applied, for
example, by western countries in the European seas (Kostianoy 2008; Kostianoy and
Solovyov 2010, 2011; Lavrova and Kostianoy 2010; Kostianoy and Lavrova 2013).
Satellite monitoring systems based on the operational reception and analysis of SAR
data is a key instrument for the detection of oil spills in the mostly cloudy conditions over the region (Lavrova et al. 2006, 2008). Unfortunately, Nigeria, although
it has several satellites with optical sensors, has no SAR instrument onboard. This
seriously restricts their ability to monitor oil spills in the coastal ocean.
The National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) is the Nigerian Space Agency (established in 1998), which on 27 September 2003 has launched
NigeriaSat-1 with a lifespan of five years. NigeriaSat-1 is a satellite in the standard
Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) design. The DMC consists of a number
of remote sensing satellites constructed by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL)
and operated for the Algerian, Nigerian, Turkish, British and Chinese governments
by DMC International Imaging. The DMC provides emergency Earth imaging for
disaster relief under the International Charter for Space and Major Disasters, which
the DMC formally joined in November 2005. NigeriaSat-1 carries an optical imaging
payload (similar to Landsat TM + bands 2, 3 and 4) developed by SSTL to provide
32 m ground resolution with a wide swath width of over 640 km. The data are used
within Nigeria to monitor pollution, land use and other medium-scale phenomena.
In August 2011 Nigeria launched two satellites: NigeriaSat X with a 2.5-metre high
spatial resolution sensor and NigeriaSat-2 to replace NigeriaSat-1.
Creation of the Nigerian national or international oil spill response centre would
help in managing oil spills along the coastlines and offshore. Bearing in mind the
number of oil spills and their total volume in the country, the centre should use regular
operational satellite radar information from several satellites, operational weather and
oil spill drift forecasts, based on the operational atmosphere and ocean models. The
Swedish Seatrack Web model, used in the Baltic Sea is a good example of such an
oil spill drift model, which can be adapted to local conditions (Ambjörn et al. 2013;
Kostianoy et al. 2013a). An operational, multisensor and multiplatform approach to
163
State Ministries of Environment. A National Oil Spill Contingency Plan has been
set up by the National Oil Spill Response Advisory Committee. Each operating oil
company is required to have a contingency plan for the prevention, control and removal of spilled oil from its own facilities. In addition, Clean Nigeria Associates
(CNA) founded in 1981, a consortium of eleven oil companies operating in Nigeria,
can be called upon by members when faced with spills beyond the capability of own
resources. Despite the level of the Government and oil industries activities, oil spill
management in Nigeria is relatively undeveloped (Nwilo and Badejo 2001, 2007;
Egberongbe et al. 2006).
In 2000 the Federal Government of Nigeria established the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) which aims to suppress the impact of petroleum pollution
on the Niger Delta environment. Governmental and nongovernmental organizations
have also utilized some technologies to identify the source, volume and trajectories
of oil spills (Nwilo and Badejo 2001, 2007; Egberongbe et al. 2006; Wikipedia
2012b). Unfortunately there is little information about these technologies, thus it is
difficult to compare them with satellite, aerial and marine technologies applied, for
example, by western countries in the European seas (Kostianoy 2008; Kostianoy and
Solovyov 2010, 2011; Lavrova and Kostianoy 2010; Kostianoy and Lavrova 2013).
Satellite monitoring systems based on the operational reception and analysis of SAR
data is a key instrument for the detection of oil spills in the mostly cloudy conditions over the region (Lavrova et al. 2006, 2008). Unfortunately, Nigeria, although
it has several satellites with optical sensors, has no SAR instrument onboard. This
seriously restricts their ability to monitor oil spills in the coastal ocean.
The National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) is the Nigerian Space Agency (established in 1998), which on 27 September 2003 has launched
NigeriaSat-1 with a lifespan of five years. NigeriaSat-1 is a satellite in the standard
Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) design. The DMC consists of a number
of remote sensing satellites constructed by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL)
and operated for the Algerian, Nigerian, Turkish, British and Chinese governments
by DMC International Imaging. The DMC provides emergency Earth imaging for
disaster relief under the International Charter for Space and Major Disasters, which
the DMC formally joined in November 2005. NigeriaSat-1 carries an optical imaging
payload (similar to Landsat TM + bands 2, 3 and 4) developed by SSTL to provide
32 m ground resolution with a wide swath width of over 640 km. The data are used
within Nigeria to monitor pollution, land use and other medium-scale phenomena.
In August 2011 Nigeria launched two satellites: NigeriaSat X with a 2.5-metre high
spatial resolution sensor and NigeriaSat-2 to replace NigeriaSat-1.
Creation of the Nigerian national or international oil spill response centre would
help in managing oil spills along the coastlines and offshore. Bearing in mind the
number of oil spills and their total volume in the country, the centre should use regular
operational satellite radar information from several satellites, operational weather and
oil spill drift forecasts, based on the operational atmosphere and ocean models. The
Swedish Seatrack Web model, used in the Baltic Sea is a good example of such an
oil spill drift model, which can be adapted to local conditions (Ambjörn et al. 2013;
Kostianoy et al. 2013a). An operational, multisensor and multiplatform approach to