Stakeholders recommend $100bn for N’Delta clean-up

Community leaders and stakeholders in Niger Delta have said that $100bn should be set aside as Clean-up and Remediation Fund for the region. The demand is contained in a communique issued on Thursday after a workshop and advocacy forum on oil spill remediation and generation of green jobs, organised by the Environmental Right Action and Friends of the Earth Nigeria.

In the communiqué, the stakeholders identified pipeline vandalism, equipment failure, corrosion and negligence on the part of multinational oil companies as the main causes of oil spillages in the region.
They lamented that environmental degradation and displacement of means of livelihood had been the bane of oil exploration in the region.
They also expressed concerns that while oil spillage, gas flaring and gas leaks were on the increase, clean-up exercise was not being done due to the weak oversight functions of government agencies and the multinational oil firms.
At the workshop, the  Executive Director, ERA, Dr. Godwin Ojo, urged the Federal Government to use oil spills clean-up in the Niger Delta to create jobs for the teeming youths.
Ojo, represented by the Bayelsa State Coordinator, Mr. Alagoa Morris, said the environment could be a means of creating green jobs.
He said such a development would have multiplier effects on the environment and livelihood by involving the youths in the clean-up process.
Ojo said, “While the cost of clean-up is high, it is the preventive measures that are more relevant to forestall future occurrences.
“We therefore call on the government to mobilise and train the youths to be involved in the oil spill clean-up process through the use of bio-remediation techniques.”