By JEROME-MARIO UTOMI, Asaba –
A group of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Media Professionals have appealed to His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, to end gas flaring in Ubeji Community, a sleepy Satellite community located around the Warri Petrochemical company in Warri South local government area of delta State and the entire Niger Delta region.
The Group also called on the Delta state Governor, Rt Hon. (Elder) Sheriff Oborevwori, to consider as urgent, taking both practical and pragmatic steps to save the people of the community and others from the choking soot which emanates from the towering chimney that pierces the skyline of the community, and allegedly belongs to a famous Gas Company in Nigeria.
The Group, made up of; Social and Economic Justice Advocacy (SEJA), Web of Support Youth Development Program Nigeria, Advisors Reports.Com, stated this on Tuesday via a joint statement made available to the press in Lagos.
According to the group, it is painful that the Federal Government and all its relevant agencies abandoned the innocent indigenes of Ubeji community to be suffering this protracted pollution.
While calling on Mr. President and the Delta state governor to remember that the provision of security and pursuit of economic welfare of the citizens are the only two constitutional responsibilities which all leaders must achieve, of which the current circumstances in Ubeji community, clearly and woefully demonstrates the opposite. The group described as unacceptable the level of pollution and environmental degradation in Ubeji and other Niger Delta communities.
The statement reads in part; “the community has been suffering from the gas flaring pollution for decades, and the entire environment and ecosystem destroyed because the flaring is an everyday action as it never goes off at all”. A visit to the community reveals a people faced with increased socio-economic difficulties with no record of survival’.
‘’Though the community has not vanished physically, but many of the residents have been sacked by the pollution and businesses within the space destroyed. Some families decimated and dispersed. Those that choose to stay back in the community have been ‘absorbed’ by the pollution. They no longer enjoy economic, social and healthy progress that flows from good governance and social cohesion. Their lives are now fraught with uncertainty’’.
”Without any shadow of doubt, the ongoing flaring in the community has led to large scale pollution in ways that have forced many to flee the community”.
This, the group added, has largely and negatively impacted the rights to health, livable environment as enshrined in various international covenants and treaties of which Nigeria as a nation is a signatory to. More specifically, it has disrupted and infringed on the rights to education of the children that have fled the community.
Further lamenting the plight of the residents, the human rights group called on the Federal Government, the state government, management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) among other relevant agencies to without delay, take urgent and coordinated action aimed at resolving the ongoing unacceptable pollution arising from gas flaring in the community and in other parts of the Niger Delta region.
We also call for adequate compensation of these victims of pollution for their losses.
This must be done not for political reason(s) but for the survival of our people and democracy. The statement concluded.
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