The Governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson, has again attacked the multinational oil firms for brazenly destroying the Niger Delta environment without adherence to international best practices in their activities.
The Governor said that the mindless activities of the multinational oil firms in the oil-rich state was responsible for the high infant mortality rate in Bayelsa and indeed the Niger Delta.
The State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, quoted the Governor to have said that a UN survey revealed that crude oil spillage causes the death of over 16,000 infants within the first month of birth in the Niger Delta.
Dickson noted that the Niger Delta environment was in turmoil and the livelihood of the people in peril because of the insensitive degradation of the environment by international oil firms, who are driven solely by a quest to make money.
He said that the flagrant abuse of the Niger Delta environment as clearly shown by available statistical evidence, indicated that about 40 million barrels of crude oil are spilled into the damaged environment of the Niger Delta as opposed to four million barrels in the United States.
He lamented that the ravages oil production had reduced life expectancy in Bayelsa and other oil producing states in the Nigeria by ten years below the national average.
The Governor said that the Bayelsa State government under his leadership would intensify proactive measures to attract necessary attention to the mindless destruction of the Niger Delta environment and the people’s means of livelihood by the oil firms.
Consequently, the Governor inaugurated a ten-man Commission of Inquiry on Environmental Degradation under the chairmanship of the Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu.
The Governor noted that the panel of highly reputable local and foreign experts had a nine-point mandate to investigate “the environmental, health, socio-economic, cultural and human damage caused by operations of both local and multinational oil companies.”
Dickson explained that the panel was set up to hold oil firms accountable to the imperative to adopt international best practices in their oil exploration activities.
He added that the IOCs had a responsibility to adopt the same operational standard to the environment of Bayelsa as Norway, Scotland and the United States.
The commission has a mandate to hold public and private hearing and submit the report of its finding in nine months.
In his remarks, the Chairman of the Commission, Dr. John Sentumau promised a holistic investigation into the impact of oil spillage in Bayelsa and the Niger Delta.
He expressed shock at the detrimental effect of oil spillage and called on the international community to give priority to the protection of the environment which he described as the collective heritage of mankind.
The committee comprises of a former President of Ghana, Dr. John Kufour, Baroness Valerie Amos, Prof. Engobo Emeseh, Dr. Anna Zalik, Dr. Kathryn Nwajiaku-Dahou (Secretary), Prof. Roland Hodler and Prof. Michael Watts.
The immediate past Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in the state, Barr. Kemasuode Wodu, is the commission’s Legal Counsel.
