Bayelsa Govt Accuses Exploration Companies of Environmental Terrorism
The Bayelsa State Government has accused oil exploration
companies operating in the Niger-Delta region of perpetrating
environmental terrorism.
The state Governor, Henry Seriake Dickson, also alleged that Agip petroleum Nigeria recorded over 1000 incidents of environment pollution cases within a year.
Dickson said alleged oil exploration companies had over the years deliberately
refused to sanitise the environment polluted through the exploration
processes, thereby leaving past, present and future
generations of Niger Delta people as as victims.
The governor stated
these at the weekend in Yenegoa, the state capital, when he received the Minister of Environment,
Ms. Amina Muhammed, and the Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim
Usman Jubril on a stakeholders engagement visit ahead
of the implementation of the UNEP report on environmental clean-up in
the Niger-Delta region.
The governor
who observed that environment polluted by oil exploration companies
started in the present day Bayelsa state, said cleaning -up the
environment requires political will marched with actions.
"To clean-up
the Niger Delta goes beyond promises, courtesy visits and press
statements, we pray that this signals a genuine commitment to solve the
accumulated problems. Bayelsa is the heart of the
Niger Delta, with all its blessings, prospects and challenges, this is
where it all started," he said.
Although,
Dickson welcome the 2011 report of the United Nations Environmental
Programme ( UNEP) which stipulated that the clean-up should begin from
Ogoni land, he noted that the pollution started from
the Ijaw land in Bayelsa state.
"Let the truth
be told, Bayelsa is the headquarters of pollution, environmental
degradation and environmental terrorism, Bayelsa iis central to the
story of Nigeria’s oil production," he said.
Dickson added that the Ijaw nations has over the years borne the brunt of providing revenue for the whole nations.
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