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ERA to FG: Declare environmental State of Emergency in Niger Delta

Blessing Okorite, Port Harcourt

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has urged the Federal  Government to declare Niger Delta environmental State of Emergency and focus more concentration on the region to end gas flaring.

Executive Director of ERA, Dr Godwin Ojo, made the call on Wednesday during its press briefing and environmental parliament in Port Harcourt, to mark the World  Environmental Day celebration.

He said that Federal government  should  delineate  the Niger Delta  as ecological disaster  area, establish  a clean up and remediation  fund for the clean up of Niger Delta to address  the severe impacts  of oil operations  on communities  and the environment.

Ojo said that Nigeria could survive without oil by investing  in renewable energy  sources.

“As a conflict resolution mechanism, the federal government should delineate the Niger Delta as ecological disaster area and declare environmental state of emergency to focus on the Niger Delta and end had flaring.

“Government  should  immediately  divest public finance,  loans and subsidies  from fossil fuel  exploration  and channel such resources  to investment in renewable energy sources to improve  energy  access for all.

“Government  should  decentralize energy production  and supply  system through an energy  democracy transition model that allows  communities and individuals  to be co-producers of energy  as well as suppliers as end users.”

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Also speaking, , the ERA Executive Director stated that the Federal government  should dedicate a percentage of the national  annual budget  for research, developments, production and supply of renewable energy systems to improve solar energy  access  that is currently low in the country.

He urged government to be courageous  to ban diesel and petrol generator sets in the Ministry,  Departments and Agencies and use the funds to provide solar energy systems for the offices.

“Government should  also set a deadline to halt the importation  and use of diesel and petrol  cars and other means of transportation to achieve the 2030 environmental  target and also save Nigeria from being a dumping  ground for obsolete cars from industrialised  countries.

Ojo also stated that government  should  demonstrate  seriousness  on environmental  protection  and establish  a clean up  and remediation fund of 100 billion US$ for the clean up of the entire  Niger Delta to restore the environment  and sustain rural livelihoods.

Responding to questions at the briefing, ERA Programme Manager, Port Harcourt, Mike Karikpo, also called on journalists  to do investigative reporting on the extend of the Ogoni cleanup  exercise  before  putting anything to the public.

Karikpo urged journalists to know the sites for the clean up, find out if  the standards set for the cleanup exercise was in place so that the neigbougring communities would not suffer from the pollution waist dumped for them after the clean up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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