By Emeka Amaefula
HOW CULTURAL HABITS AFFECT WELLBEING OF THE OCEAN-DR EMI-MEMBERE OTAJI REVEALS
The cultural habits being applied by some community dwellers in the littoral areas bordering the Atlantic Ocean in Rivers states are said to be harmful to the wellbeing of the ocean. Dr. Emi membere-Otaji the Chairman and Chief executive Officer of ELSHCON Nig. Ltd and shipping cum Maritime outfit has described certain cultural habits which people in the coastal communities indulge in as being harmful to the ocean, he said this during the celebration of United Nation World Ocean Day held at Port Harcourt on June, 8th, 2022 and organized by Energy Maritime Reporters -EMR. In his own words “Nobody will tell your story for you, if you don’t. The Niger Delta is about the Ocean and there is a lot to be said about this. We must tell our story.
“I grew up in Buguma Waterfronts and related with water very much. Life there is connected with water. My compound is the Otaji Compound which is at the Waterfront of Buguma(In Asari Toru Local Government Area of Rivers state). There are many bad cultural practices such as discharging waste into the water. In fact, we use refuse(waste) to fight erosion, to stop the steady encroachment of the Water into the community” he said. The Medical doctor turned businessman and one-time Commissioner For Health in Rivers state from 1999 to 2007 while Governor Dr. Peter Odili held sway in Rivers state urged journalists to do much enlightenment in dissuading people from engaging in harmful practices that endanger the wellbeing of the Ocean as the media is the organ to re-orientate the people from such harmful cultural habits.
He identified the ocean as being home to all manner of mammals and plant life as some communities have utilized technology to harness the economic benefits of the Ocean through eco-aquatic tourism as seen from the Maldives Island. “Some Islands have created economic lifestyles from the Ocean nearest to them. There is a place you go and they have a Craft that takes Tourists under the Ocean with viewing lenses to see all manner of animals at close range, for a fee of $500 per view.” He also identified other economic derivatives such as extractive minerals such as large quantities of crude oil and gas being found in the waters and Ocean.
In finding solutions to acts that inhabit the harmonious relationship of man and his environment, Dr. Membere-Otaji said “There is imbalance in the ocean such as carbon dioxide, oxygen et.c. When imbalance occurs through pollution and other forces, it creates climatic imbalance and climatic change. Gas flare is one of such agents of oceanic imbalance.”
In his welcome address to the occasion, Martins Giadom Chairman of Energy, maritime Reporters arm of Nigeria Union of Journalists Rivers state Council said that the global theme ’Revitalization and Collective Action for the Ocean’ in which it subtitled “Wealth in The Ocean: A New Agenda” having dedicated the occasion as way of gathering together practicing journalists and some stakeholders in the maritime business to understand the values of the oceans to mankind through Ocean literacy. “These are some of the technicalities experts may be telling us today or in the days or years ahead as we train. Port Harcourt, the acclaimed headquarters of the Niger Delta , has the right to claim to be the centre of not only the Gulf of Guinea but that of Nigeria’s share of the Atlantic Ocean which covers 835 kilometres of Coastline from Lagos through Ondo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River states.”
——–Emeka Amaefula—-+234(0)8111813069