The Niger Delta region has witnessed environmental pollution arising from oil activities over the years of oil exploration and production. Soil fertility in both the Lowland Forest Ecological Zone and Island Forest Ecological Zone were investigated to establish the consequences of oil pollution on the soil and remedial actions to restore back quality and fertility of the soil. A suitable cost effective and environmentally friendly technology to handle the pollutions in the Niger Delta region can be found in Remediation by Enhanced Natural Attenuation Process (ENAP) which facilitates the activities of microorganisms to biodegrade the hydrocarbon impacted soil. The study compared the bio-physicochemical parameters of the oil spill polluted soil with particular reference to areas of oil production of the two Ecological Systems with those of the unaffected soil as well as their response to bioremediation interventions using ENAP. The results demonstrated significant decrease in the values of the key indicator parameter, the Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH). But for the unenhanced process, the result showed low level of reduction of TPH values for the polluted soils. A degradation trend was demonstrated with time leading to significant TPH reductions and improved key soil fertility indices. The result showed that the level of the nutrient status of soil in the region can be improved through the natural attenuation process.

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Though crude oil production has its attendant high risks, it is one of the largest and most profitable businesses in the world. From its development phase to production phase, many disasters are bound to occur in the industries. Oil spill is the most important type of environmental disaster which usually occurs. It has impact on humans as wells as on plants and wild life, including birds, fish and mammals. Sources of spill ranges from equipment failures, human errors, accidents, sabotage and illegal bunkering activities on the production facilities. (Oil theft, sabotage and spills-Shell Companies in Nigeria publication April 2014). Good Industry operating and maintenance procedures are key to reducing incidents of oil spills. Prompt spill response management is a key success factor in reducing escalation of the attendant negative impacts on the environment by deploying a workable contingency plan suitable to the specific environment of importance.

Increasing cases of piracy, sea robbery, illegal bunkering and unauthorized mid-stream discharge, among several other criminalities, constitute a major source of concern to maritime administrations in the Gulf of Guinea, including that of Nigeria.  Youth restiveness especially on the waterways of the Nigerian waters is of great concern to the government of Nigeria and the international communities. Youths grudges hinge on the gross negligence by the multinational oil exploration and production companies operating in the domains on areas of youth employment and empowerment, environmental devastation, education, negligence on environmental impacts restorations etc. While Nigerian current maritime security regulatory framework is not robust enough, enhancement must be made over time in order to continuously improve and deliver a secured maritime transportation system in Nigeria. The youths on the other hand inadvertently believe that by robbing in the water ways, kidnapping of individuals in the water ways for money, sabotaging oil pipelines, hijacking ships and vessels in the water ways and emptying their contents and then re-selling same to other buyers is a quick source of financial empowerment of the youths.