Nnimmo Bassey (born 11 June 1958) is a Nigerian architect, Environmentalism, author and poet, who chaired Friends of the Earth International from 2008 through 2012[ Time Time - Heroes of the Environment 2009] In 2010, Nnimmo Bassey was named a Laureate of the Right Livelihood Award,[ «Raftoprisen til Nnimmo Bassey», Vårt Land, 27. september 2012.] He also received an honorary doctorate from the University of York, England, in 2019. He serves on the advisory board and is Director of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation, an environmental think tank and advocacy organization.
Early life and education
Nnimmo Bassey was born on 11 June 1958. He studied
architecture, practiced in the public sector for 10 years and thereafter continued in private practice. He was active on
human rights issues in the 1980s when he served on the Board of Directors of Nigeria's Civil Liberties Organization. In 1993, he co-founded a Nigerian (Non-governmental organization) NGO known as Environmental Rights Action (Friends of the Earth Nigeria) in order to
advocate, educate and organize around environmental human rights issues in
Nigeria.
Since 1996, Bassey and Environmental Rights Action led Oil watch
Africa and, beginning in 2006, also led the Global South Network, Oil watch International, striving to mobilize
Community against the expansion of
extraction.
Bassey has served in the committees of both Oil watch International and the regional arm, Oil watch Africa since inception. Oil watch
Africa has membership in
Nigeria,
Chad,
Cameroon, Congo Democratic Republic,
Ghana Empire,
Uganda,
South Africa,
Togo,
Kenya,
Eswatini,
Mozambique,
Mali,
Sudan,
South Sudan and others.
Membership of Oil watch International spreads across
South America,
Southeast Asia,
Africa,
Europe and
North America.
The Network works to resist destructive oil, gas and coal extraction activities. It demands an urgent shift from the dominant petroleum-fueled
civilization. In 2011, Bassey founded the
Ecology think tank, the Health of Mother Earth Foundation promoting environmental
climate justice and
food sovereignty in
Nigeria and Africa.
At the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in
Copenhagen, Bassey - despite being accredited - was "physically kept out" of a meeting.
Career
Bassey led Friends of the Earth International from 2008 to 2012 and for two
, was the executive director of Environmental Rights Action.
He is the director of Health of Mother Earth Foundation
and have served on the
-
To Cook a Continent: Destructive Extraction and the Climate Crisis in Africa
Other books by Bassey include:
-
Patriots & Cockroaches (Poems) 1992
-
Beyond Simple Lines: the Architecture of Chief G.Y. Aduku and Archcon (with Okechukwu Nwaeze) 1993
-
The Management of Construction 1994
-
Poems on The Run (Poems) 1994
-
Oil watching in South America (Environment) 1997
-
Intercepted (Poems) 1998
-
We Thought It Was Oil But It Was Blood (Poems), 2002
-
Genetically Modified Organisms: the African Challenge (2004)
-
Living Houses (Architecture), 2005
-
Knee Deep in Crude, ERA Field Reports, ed (2009)
-
The Nigerian Environment and the Rule of Law, ed (2009)
-
I will Not Dance to Your Beat (poems), Kraft Books, Ibadan. 2011
-
We Thought It Was Oil But It Was Blood- Resistance to Military-Corporate Wedlock in Nigeria and Beyond. (TNI/Pluto Press, 2015)
-
Oil Politics – Echoes of Ecological Wars (Daraja Press, 2016).
-
I see the Invisible (Poems) (Daraja Press, 2023).
-
SHELL'S FPSO poses serious danger
[http://www.nigerdeltacongress.com/sarticles/shell_and_its_dirty_tricks.htm]
Awards and recognitions
-
2009 Times Magazine's Hero Of Environment
-
2010 Laureate Right Livelihood Award winner
-
2012 Rafto Prize winner
-
2019 Honorary Doctorate, University of York, England
-
2024 Wallenberg Medal winner
See also
-
Environmental issues in the Niger Delta
-
List of Nigerian architects
External links
