From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
Bayelsa State Government has solicited the support of the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) in the fight against environmental terrorism and degradation impoverishing Bayelsa and other states in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
Governor Douye Diri made the appeal at Otuan community in the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area when he led some foreign envoys on an assessment visit of facilities donated by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in the riverine community.
Represented by his deputy, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, Diri stressed that the challenge of environmental injustice confronting the Niger Delta, particularly Bayelsa State, requires urgent and sustained effort for redress.
Highlighting the suffering of the people of the state, including the prevalence of strange diseases and high mortality rate occasioned by pollution from reckless oil exploration, he lamented that life expectancy in the region ranks among the lowest in the world.
Governor Diri informed the visiting envoys of the state government’s efforts in seeking redress, including making a case in the United Kingdom’s parliament through a Report on Oil Pollution in Bayelsa by the Archbishop John Sentamu-led Committee empanelled by his predecessor, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson.
He called on the EU, development partners and environmental rights organisations to support the Niger Delta in engaging the Federal Government and the international oil companies to address environmentally unwholesome practices like gas flaring and incessant oil spills occurring unchecked for decades in the region.
“An area we really want your support, especially the European Union, is to lead a sustenance of redress for the environmental injustice, terrorism and oppression that the Niger Delta people, and Bayelsa State in particular, have suffered over the years. This ceremony we have here today is the product of the fusion of our development goals and efforts as a state and those of the UNODC. This project will create more room for greater collaboration; it has been very rewarding and fruitful.
“We believe this singular act of the European Union, funded by Germany, and now supported by Denmark, will give us a ladder for engaging our youths in creative ventures.”
Earlier in his welcome address, the Amananaowei of Otuan Community, His Royal Highness Christopher Nana Okoto, expressed gratitude to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) for selecting Otuan as one of the pilot communities for its rural development and security project. He, however, appealed for the expansion of the existing youth development centre, and the building of a bigger and more mechanised cassava processing factory to complement the existing one donated by the UNODC with funding from the German Embassy in Nigeria.