By Peter Jonah
The leadership of the Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, Ogulagha Clan has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, the Federal Ministry of Environment, the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, the Executive Governor of Delta State Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori and other relevant stakeholders to come to the aid of Obuguru Community in Ogulagha Kingdom, Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State.
According to the IYC, the call became necessary given the fact that there is a terrible coastal erosion currently threatening the existence of the oil bearing community, as a result of the devastating Atlantic ocean surge.
In a statement signed by its Chairman, Comr Keneware Emmanuel and Secretary, Comr. Godspower Potoki in Warri, the IYC noted that the worsening coastal erosion is at the verge of totally wiping out the entire community.
“As indigenous people of the land, we have observed before our eyes how large portions of land in Obuguru Community are gradually washed away by aggressive ocean surge, thereby threatening lives, ancestral homes, fishing settlements, properties worth millions, and the economic survival of the people.
If urgent and practical measures are not taken, the community will face the danger of total extinction and displacement”.
“We have seen how a beautifully built church house, overtaken and wiped out by the aggressive ocean surge.
We are therefore, calling on the Federal Government and all relevant government agencies and parastatals, at all levels, to urgently take practical and proactive steps towards saving lives, properties, and livelihoods in Obuguru Community through effective shoreline protection and erosion control measures”.
It is also pathetic to note that the state of neglect and abandonment by former Eni Agip Oil Company Nigeria Limited, now operating as Oando Surgenal Limited, after decades of crude oil exploration and production activities.
It is unfortunate that after extracting enormous wealth from our land, the community has been abandoned to suffer environmental degradation, erosion, economic hardship, and absence of basic infrastructural without adequate compensation, remediation, and sustainable development.
In furtherance, we boldly and strongly urge the Federal Government and Oando Surgenal Limited to as a matter of urgency rolled out a comprehensive end-of-life and abandonment programme for all abandoned oil facilities within the community in line with internationally accepted environmental standards and best practices.
“Our people cannot continue to suffer after sacrificing so much for the economic survival of the Nigerian State.
Environmental justice, fairness, remediation, and sustainable development must prevail. They added.
