Remediate and Rejuvenate Niger Delta Environment, Chief Mulade tells Federal Government

The Country Director / CEO, Center for Peace and Environmental Justice, CEPEJ, Chief Comrade Mulade Sheriff, has called on the Federal Government of Nigeria to complete the environmental remediation and socioeconomic rejuvenation of the Niger Delta region devastated by long periods of oil spill neglect, crude oil exploration / exploitation, deprivation and marginalization.

The environmental rights activist made the call recently in a chat with newsmen in Warri, Delta State, asserting that it is the responsibility of the Nigeria Government and oil companies to remediate the degraded environment, pay adequate compensation to affected host communities and rejuvenate the lost socioeconomic wellbeing of Niger Deltans for the impoverish state caused by crude oil exploration activities engineered by the Federal Government.

Chief Mulade stated that remediation and rejuvenation of the socioeconomic life of the people in Niger Delta region of the country is a responsibility he described as extremely important destiny which successive Federal Governments have failed to address and spent far too long a time not only to attend to but also to accomplish.

Speaking of speculations, claims and counter claims in some quarters regarding the advent of Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) that the Federal Government will abandon its responsibility to remediate the environment, Chief Mulade said, the advent of the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA, and allocation of 3% to host communities, does not allocate the right to the Federal Government to shy aware from its primary responsibility of providing basic amenities for and care for her citizens especially when the Federal Government are the main beneficiaries of oil production proceeds from the region and the cause of degradation of the Niger Delta environment, hence, called on the Federal Government and Presidency to do the needful.

While he appreciated President Muhammadu Buhari, the National Assembly and all those who worked tirelessly to ensure the passage of the PIB, Chief Mulade drew the attention of the Federal Government and other relevant agencies to the fact that the region have long been degraded and the environment devastated before the emergence of PIA, hence, the Federal Government cannot and should not hide under the PIA to further marginalized the region, rather they should be directly involved in the remediation and socioeconomic rejuvenation of the region.

In explaining the importance of the PIA to host communities, CEPEJ’s Country Director, Chief Mulade said, the Law or Act, cannot take retrospective effect on the people it’s meant to benefit and Nigerians should not lose sight of the beneficial reality of the Act.

He said, before the Federal Government can hands off the Niger Delta, they must complete its environmental remediation as well as socioeconomic rejuvenation of the environment which is what the Federal Government owns the people living in the region.

The environmental activist said, it will be unethical for the Federal Government to hands off at a time when the world is in agreement in terms of citizen and communal right of the people, and that it is the communal rights of the Niger Delta people to have clean environment and access to a clean water supplies which are being violated by Nigeria Government and oil producing companies operating in the region.

Chief Mulade also assert that, by the admission of oil companies to the region, ‘the oil industries has abandoned thousands of polluted sites in the region which need to be identified and studied in details, He therefore called on environmental expert to go the extral mile to identify these spots, study them and make cases for the affected communities.

While complaining about the negative effect of oil operations in the Niger Delta Chief Mulade said, due to degradation of the environment, aquatic organism and water supply sources are being adversely affected including the health and wellbeing of the people which has resulted to high mortality.  He also said that, the present environmental state caused by oil companies and their operational activities need to be recovered while affected communities be adequately compensated for their losses.

Referencing what is obtainable in other oil producing Nations around the world, Chief Mulade said, he expect the Federal Government to apply what is obtainable in countries such as the Netherlands where the Dutch government requires all operators to restore their areas of operation back to how nature intended, which means all infrastructures used for operations during active production will be removed at the end of production and proper maintenance of the environment need to be carried out.  He said this method of operation is referred to “abandonment liability” which the operating company need to carry out at the end of active operation, and that is what he expect the Nigeria Government to emulate.

Speaking on the management of the 3% to host communities, Chief Mulade who is also a 2023 Delta State Governorship hopeful reiterated his earlier position, stating that, the 13 percent oil derivation fund, and the PIA fund are meant to address the environmental, ecological and infrastructural development issues of oil communities and he expect that should be done to better the lives of people living in oil and gas host communities, He further insisted that the 3 per cent PIA fund should be managed by the Host Community Trust Fund as stipulated by the PIA.

Chief Mulade said, leaving the funds under the hands of Ministers or State Governors to control or even nominate candidate to manage the fund for host communities might lead to its being mismanaged the same way the 13% derivation fund allocated to oil and gas producing States for the development of oil and gas host communities was misappropriated, to avoid a repeat of such stories, the host communities should nominate credible individuals to manage the Host Community Trust Fund as stipulated in the PIA for speedy infrastructural development and environmental friendly condition of the oil rich region of Nigeria.

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