Potential Benefits of Applying “Omics” Technology in Cleaning up Incessant Crude Oil Spillages in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria

There have been reported cases of incessant crude oil spills leading to severe instances of hydrocarbon pollution in many parts of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) in 2011 reported widespread hydrocarbon contamination in Ogoniland severely impacting many components of the environment. Some clean up and remediation methods including bioremediation, thermal treatment, and soil vapour extraction amongst others have been suggested as panacea to the restoration of the severely polluted environments in the region. Amongst these methods, bioremediation stands out. Interestingly omics based techniques have been shown to be amendable to bioremediation with a number of potential benefits. This review paper examines the potential benefits of the omics based technologies in the remediation of hydrocarbon polluted sites in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.