Oil companies in Niger Delta neglect their environment – Commissioner
NAN-AE-6
Environment
By Ebere Agozie
Abuja, Nov. 7, 2016 (NAN) Prof. Roseline Konya, the Rivers Commissioner for Environment, says oil companies in the Niger Delta Region are not taking care of the environment in which they operated.
Konya told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja that the oil companies had to do exactly what they did in other developed countries.
“The environment in the Niger Delta has been neglected for several decades by oil firms and the much talked about diversification into agriculture will remain a mirage unless the environment is cleaned and restored.
“This is what we are telling them but they do not listen but we are praying that they will listen from now onwards, knowing that some places are already degraded.
“And this is why Rivers has been at the forefront of addressing stakeholders on the need to save our environment and urging them not to cause any problem in the environment because we have had enough.’’
She said that although the oil companies were not living up to expectations, some citizens still caused problems in the environment by sabotaging and vandalising the oil pipelines.
“We are doing our best to tell them that is not the best.
“We recognise that the environment of the Rivers people and Niger Delta as a whole is suffering, so we are intensifying the environmental campaign, especially with the Ogoni Cleanup campaign.
“The pollution level has gone so high that the environment can no longer support fishing and farming. It has eroded the livelihoods of our people who depend on the environment for sustenance.
“We are full of expectations that the cleanup will cause us to start breathing fresh air without pollution in Rivers,’’ the commissioner said.
She said that, in addition to the Ogoni Cleanup campaign, the Rivers Government was working with other environmental campaigns like “Waste to Wealth Management’’ which would soon be commissioned.
Konya urged stakeholders to work together and take deliberate steps to restore the Niger Delta environment to its natural state.
NAN reports that the Federal Government had on June 2, 2016 launched the Ogoni cleanup campaign in the area.
Also, Konya is the only Commissioner for Environment that received a Fellowship Award at the just concluded 26th Annual General Meeting and National Conference of the Nigerian Environmental Society (NES). (NAN)
EPA/COF/AFA
Edited by Oluyinka Fadare/Felix Ajide
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