Sep 15, 2011

Ogoni: Governors Demand Federal Action


Regional Governors have urged the Nigerian Government to endorse all UN recommendations as the fallout following UNEP’s report on Ogoniland continues.

Below is an article published by The Nation:

Southsouth governors have called on the Federal Government to implement the recommendations of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report on Ogoniland.

The states are to initiate actions  that will permit them to participate in the regulation of the oil industry’s activities, that impact on their environment.

These were contained in the eight-point communiqué in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, yesterday [14 September 2011], after a meeting of Southsouth Commissioners for Environment on the UNEP report.

The communiqué was signed by environment commissioners from Rivers (Nyema Weli), Delta (Frank Omare), Bayelsa (Robert Enogha) ;  Cross River (Edward Ogon), representatives of Akwa Ibom and Edo states commissioners for environment and the Director-General of the BRACED Commission, Joe Keshi.

BRACED is an acronym that represents Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo and Delta states.

The communiqué reads: “The UNEP report on Ogoniland has established a model that will guide the clean up, remediation and restoration of polluted environment in the Southsouth states.

“States are to come up with inventory of impacted sites for further actions.

“The Ogoni case identified emergency measures, which the states should immediately address: the issue of clean water, posting of warning signs at impacted sites and public awareness campaign on the dangers of activities that have adverse impact on the environment.

“States are to establish environmental protection fund for monitoring, capacity building and other pollution control measures.”

It was also stated in the communiqué that the BRACED commission should be empowered to stimulate, catalyse and coordinate the actions relating to the protection of the environment in the affected states.

 

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