Niger Delta
Rivers HoS Task FG On Oil Spill Fine
Rivers State Head of Service, Rufus Godwins jas urged the federal government to increase the one million narea penalty fine for default in cleaning up oil impacted sites and environments.
The Head of Service stated this at the maiden edition of Chief Nwobidike Nwanudi memorial lecture organised by Selemati Foundation in Port Harcourt.
According to him the stipulated amount for failure to cleanup affected environment by oil spiillers was insufficient to carry out the cleanup as well as compensate victims of the pollution.
He said that oil companies that are contributing to environmental degradation in the Niger Delta region should be sanctioned and made to face the law.
Godwins while speaking on the theme “The Impact of Environmental Pollution on Human Health and the Challenges of Interpretation and Enforcement of Environmental Laws and Regulations in the Niger Delta,” said Niger Delta region had borne the brunt of oil exploration and has flaring for about Sixty-four years.
“ The reprehensible apathy by government and the multinational companies towards the remediation of the deplorable condition of the Niger Delta environment, with its attendant systematic has been acknowledged even by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the country’s giant regulatory authority of the oil and gas sector.
The keynote speaker also called for a more proactive and responsive approach by National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) to ensure safe, effective, and appropriate monitoring and response to public alerts on pollution.
Also speaking Chairman, Board of Trustees of Selemati Foundation, Mrs. Judith Nwanodi, said the foundation was established with the vision to inspire Nigerians to be global academic leaders with transformative impact on the lives of marginalized people through their research in the fields of environmental studies, law and medicine.
She said the Founation had the objectives of funding innovative research in the fields of environmental studies, law and medicine, improve infrastructural services in community health centres in the Niger Delta region, hold biennial memorial lectures with the audience participation in Nigeria, Great Britain, Canada and the United States of America, and a host of other objectives.
By: Iragunima Benice