Pollution: Group Demands FG’s Attention on N’Delta Environment
Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt
The federal government has been urged to give more attention to the deteriorating environment of communities in the Niger Delta region that are affected by oil spill pollution.
This demand was made recently at a capacity building workshop that was organised by Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) for fishermen/women and other residents of Okrika community in Rivers State.
Recall that Joinkrama community, which is hosting Adibawa Oilfield and other 48 oil wells in Ahoada West Local Government Area of the state, lamented last week over the level of environmental degradation, poverty and neglect in the area.
During the capacity programme in Okrika, residents of the area lamented that they have suffered years of pollution orchestrated by activities of oil multinationals and other giant producing companies in the area.
Mr. Anthony Fyneface and Tari Lawrence, natives of Okrika told THISDAY that as specialist in fishing business, they have suffered hardship because of the scarcity of fish in the area due to polluted water.
Speaking also, the Executive Director of HOMEF, Mr. Nnimmo Bassey, noted the need for the protection of the environment.
He observed that people depended on the environment for their source of livelihood and regretted that several activities have destroyed the water and land.
He advised that the incoming government should respond to the basic needs of the people by providing safe environment with clean waters.
He added that the government must ensure an end to the re-pollution of the Niger Delta region’s environment.
“I think is a big embarrassment that we have government at all levels in this area and we don’t see any sign of concern for the environment. This is one thing that is wrong in Nigeria generally.
“Government tends to see natural resources as things to be exploited at any cost; so you destroy the environment, take the resources, you make the foreign exchange and you make all the money. But if the environment is destroyed, you are directly destroying the life of the people and if your people are not able to thrive in their community, then whatever financial gain they make is ‘Blood Money.’
“We need to come to the point, especially as we are having a new government coming into office. The government coming if they were actually voted by the people, they have to respond to the needs of the people, protecting the environment should be number one responsibility of the government, because our people depending on the environment, people drinking water from polluted waters, polluted streams. People are farming in polluted land, breathing polluted air that is completely unacceptable,” Bassey said.
He said that the workshop was “a capacity programme for communities around here and the critical essence is that they should be able to identify the environmental challenges they have, identify the sources and formulate ways of tackling those problems, especially by using policy advocacy.”
Speaking about his visit to Joinkrama in Ahoada, Bassey described their situation as horrible and unacceptable.
He said: “As part of our series of visits to communities with environmental problems to find out the critical environmental issues as well as the losses people have sustained; as well as to sit down with them to agree on what needs to be done.
“This is one community that was completely submerged in the 2022 flood. There are also key oil and gas issues in this area. There has been a lot of oil spills over the decades, human rights abuses and repression of the people; so we thought we should hear from them and jointly formulate these problems for a discourse.
“The authorities are not attentive to what is going on in this community. Crude oil is flowing from this community non-stop but the road is completely broken and no one is saying anything about it. The Orashi River is eating up the community, which means there is a serious loss of territory.”
