Kula Boat Tragedy: HOMEF Condemns Oil Industry’s Human Cost
The Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) has condemned the death of seven people in a boat incident in Kula Kingdom, Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State, describing the tragedy as a reminder of the human cost of petroleum extraction in the Niger Delta.
The environmental advocacy group called for urgent action to address the grievances that reportedly triggered the protest preceding the October 20 incident, including an unresolved oil spill, alleged unpaid debts to local vendors and contractors, and perceived neglect of the host community.
The incident occurred amid tensions surrounding a blockade of the Floating Storage and Offloading (FSO) vessel, Anambra Basin, in the waterways of Kula Kingdom, with seven bodies reportedly recovered after a community boat capsized.
In a statement, HOMEF Executive Director, Dr Nnimmo Bassey, said the tragedy exposed the consequences of an extractive economic system that prioritised commercial interests over human lives, community welfare and environmental protection.
“The Kula tragedy exposes the cruelty of an extractive model that places commercial interests above human lives and the wellbeing of communities. No barrels of crude oil are worth a human life,” Bassey said.
He argued that decades of petroleum extraction had left communities in the Niger Delta grappling with oil pollution, damaged fishing grounds, declining livelihoods and threats to food security.
According to him, the tragedy should prompt a fundamental reassessment of an economic model that measures development through oil production and revenue without adequately accounting for its human and ecological consequences.
Bassey said environmental degradation posed a particular threat to communities such as Kula, where fishing and waterways sustain livelihoods and underpin social and economic life.
“Environmental justice cannot be reduced to compensation after damage has occurred. It demands preventing harm, restoring affected environments, respecting community rights and challenging the assumption that nature exists primarily to generate profit,” he said.
The HOMEF director urged oil companies and public institutions to take responsibility for the consequences of activities affecting host communities and the ecosystems on which they depend.
The organisation also warned that when the benefits of resource extraction accrue to a few while local communities bear the environmental and social costs, the resulting grievances could deepen insecurity and expose residents to preventable suffering.
It rejected the treatment of resource-rich communities as sacrifice zones for commercial interests, insisting that residents must not be regarded as obstacles to oil production.
HOMEF called for a shift away from extractive-led development towards an approach that prioritised human dignity, ecological wellbeing and sustainable livelihoods.
It urged the authorities and relevant stakeholders to prevent oil pollution, restore degraded ecosystems, protect fishing grounds and ensure that host communities participated meaningfully in decisions affecting their lands and waterways.
The organisation further stressed the need for measures to safeguard community members during protests and ensure that residents could express grievances over environmental damage and other concerns without being exposed to violence or avoidable danger.
HOMEF expressed solidarity with the bereaved families, survivors and people of Kula Kingdom, saying the deaths should not become another statistic in the history of suffering associated with petroleum extraction in the Niger Delta.
It called on Nigeria to reassess its approach to resource exploitation, arguing that economic development should not come at the expense of human lives and the environment.
“No profit is worth a human life. No resource is more valuable than the people and ecosystems that sustain life,” the organisation said.
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