By Francis Sadhere,
As the world observed World Earth Day on Saturday, a Non-Governmental Organization, Center for Peace and Environmental Justice (CEPEJ) took the earth campaign to the remote community of Ogulagha kingdom in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State.
The National Coordinator of CEPEJ, Comrade Sheriff Mulade who addressed journalists during the sensitization campaign said as the world celebrate the World Earth Day, there was need for the people of the oil bearing communities to be aware of the dangers involved in pipeline vandalism, illegal Refineries, gas flaring and other human activities that pollute the environment.
He therefore called on the Federal Government and multinational oil companies operating in the Niger Delta region to collectively save the environment and restore peace to the region, adding that illegal gas flaring has brought a lot of diseases to the people in the region.
Comrade Mulade noted that environmental abuse anywhere in the world is a threat to all humanity, adding that “the environment is our heritage and therefore we must protect and preserve it for our future.
He said, “Gas flaring has being the major cause of death in these oil bearing communities. As a result of the oil and gas exploration in the region, the environment has being bastardized and the livelihood of the people has been destroyed. We want to plead with the government that a clean environment is our fundamental right and we need it because it is our heritage, pride and our future. Therefore government must do the needful to end gas flaring, illegal refineries and illegal bunkering and they convert all illegal refineries to modular refineries that will create employment for our youths.
“On modular refinery, we are also saying that the 13% derivation should be used to build the modular refineries because for you to get investors to come and build the modular refineries for us, it must be done through a sharing formula. The host communities must also do their part when these modular refineries are being built. That is why we are saying that they should use the 13% derivation to build the modular refineries because to me those funds are used as conduit pipe by the state governors who embezzle and mismanage the funds to the detriment of the people. You can see the level of unemployment in the Niger Delta Communities.”
Comrade Mulade noted that haven travel round all the oil bearing communities in the Niger Delta region, the only solution to the incessant crisis in the region is for the government to create the conducive environment for the people to live in peace.
On his part, the Chairman of Ogulagha community, Mr. Solomon Prebor lamented that despite the fact that the community produces about ten thousand barrel of oil per day, there is nothing to show for the amount of oil that is leaving the community.
He said, “We produce about Ten Thousand barrel of oil per day here and there is nothing to show for it. We have made several complains to the Federal Government and the oil companies to develop our communities for us but they have paid deaf ears to our plea. So we are using this opportunity to call on the Federal, State and Local Governments to come to our aid and develop our community for us.
“I want to appeal to the Federal Government to look into the infrastructure development in the community. We also want them to provide health facilities and schools for us. It is sad to say that the oil companies do not give our people employment. The only employment they give our people is casual employment where they can hire and fire them at will and they will go without any benefit.
“When they came they said our people are not educated, but today that we have qualified engineers and others, they still refuse to give us the jobs that we need. If these issues are not resolved now, the Niger Delta crisis will continue to increase. If the federal government does the needful we believe that there will be peace in the region because we believe that pipeline vandalism is caused by lack of employment. Last year there was an incident of pipeline vandalism and the community youths vowed to protect the pipelines in the community. But till date the oil company has not given the community youths any money to appreciate them. We want the Federal Government to do something about this issue.”
Also, the Woman Leader of Ogulagha community, Augustina Arugbor who spoke to journalists said, “Most of us in this community are becoming sick all the time as a result of this gas flaring. So we are using this opportunity to appeal to the Federal Government to come to our aid and try to solve this issue of gas flaring for us because if not, our health will continue to be in danger.”
Another Woman leader of the community, Mrs Veronica Wednesday complained that as a result of gas flaring in the community, ther vision has been affected as they could no longer see well, adding that even the fish they kill in the river smell of oil and that this has continued to affect their health.
She said, “We are having problems with our vision because of the gas flaring. Even when we go to the river for fishing, the fishes are contaminated. Upon all the fact that we complain all the time, the government has not done anything to alleviate our plight.
“The cottage hospital that we have today in the community is under-utilized because a lot of times we have to go out of the community for treatment of minor illnesses. There is no single ambulance to rush pregnant women to the hospital.
“Even the oil companies who are destroying our fishing nets do not pay us any compensation. We want to use this opportunity to appeal to the federal government to prevail on Shell not to destroy our fishing nets. If they continue to destroy our fishing nets, we are going to create problem for them. Our children who are in school are not even allowed to do industrial training in Shell. They do not even employ our graduates. This is very bad and this is supposed to be to our benefits”
