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From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
Stakeholders across Bayelsa State have advocated for the implementation of recommendations contained in the Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission (BSOEC) three years after its public presentation in the United Kingdom, Bayelsa and Abuja.
Major recommendations of the report were the comprehensive Bayelsa clean-up and a Bayelsa recovery fund to the tune of $12 billion
The stakeholders, including representatives of the Bayelsa State Government, traditional rulers, civil society organisations, community leaders, academics, women leaders and youth groups, spoke at a town hall meeting organised by the International Working Group, Social Action and Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) at the Chief Harold Dappa Biriye Hall, Government House Annex, Yenagoa.
The Chairman of the event, King Bubaraye Dakolo, Agada IV and Chairman of the Bayelsa State Traditional Rulers’ Council, decried the non-implementation of the recommendations of the report.
According to him, despite the robust findings in the report, the Federal Government and the oil and gas industry have continued to display indifference to the recommendations.
This, he said, demands a change in strategy by the people of oil-bearing communities to continue to discuss and advocate for the implementation of the recommendations until the oil and gas industry responds.
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The monarch, while drawing attention to the hazardous effects of oil pollution on the health of the people, especially its link with high rates of deaths from cancers and early menopause in women, urged all stakeholders to take a firm stand for the full implementation of the recommendations of the report.
“The report on its own may not do what is supposed to be done. We, the people, must show that the report is ours and push it, talk about it and ensure the oil and gas industry responds to that report,’’ he said.
Dr Isaac Osuoka of York University, Canada, who recalled the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) report, confirmed the fears of the people on the adverse effects of oil pollution on the health of the people in Ogoniland, stressing that the BSOEC report confirmed similar fears that Bayelsans had been drinking contaminated water.
According to him, the objective of the organisers was to create awareness about the report and to ensure it remains on the front burner of discussions.
Other members of the International Working Group that spoke, including Prof Anna Zalik, also from York University, Canada, Prof Micheal Watts of the University of California and Prof Engobo Emeseh, noted that the report highlighted the alarming scale of environmental pollution in Bayelsa State and its devastating effect on the health of the people.
Stakeholders, therefore, resolved to create more awareness about the report for the people and called for coordinated action to address decades of ecological degradation and social injustice.
They reiterated that to ensure environmental remediation, people in oil-bearing communities must be informed of the recommendations of the report.
