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From Ighomuaye Lucky, Benin
Former Ijaw agitator in Gelegele Community in Ovia South West Local Government Area of Edo State, Richard Obey, has raised the alarm that their people are now walking corpses due to the impact of gas flaring in their community.
He disclosed this at a capacity building workshop organized by the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) for the host community.
Obey who threatened that if urgent action is not taking to stop gas flaring in the community, that he might be forced to go back to his old life of arms struggle, said that the activities of the Dubri Oil Company, located at the heart of the community is causing more harms to the host community and their livelihoods.
He said the host community where the oil firm resides, lacks all the basic social amenities and yet the company keeps carrying out their explorative activities.
Also speaking, Engr. Kokobi Donyegha said that due to the impacts of gas flaring, the inhabitants of the community are now older than their age.
He lamented that, despite the health hazards the host community is subjected to, the people are meant to do the menial jobs in the company while the managerial positions are occupied by the foreigners.
For Mrs. Elizabeth Monday, she said that their source of drinking water has been polluted.
She added that their major occupations are fishing and farming but right now, they can no longer carry out their fishing activities because their rivers are polluted and their fishes are all dead.
Tracing the root cause of the problem further, Prince Barb Pawuru, President of Host Community Network of Nigeria, added that they have all agreed that the only solution to their problem is that the Dubri Oil Company should leave their community.
“The agitation stands from the fact that the Dubri Oil Company operating here is actually causing their deaths, infact, it is almost ending the lives of the people of the community and so, they can’t just survive again with Dubri Oil Company.
“That is why they are agitating, they should leave them and go. The flare is located at the heart of the community. Many persons have died”, Pawuru said.
Earlier, the Programmes Manager, Project Lead, Fossil Politics, at Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Mr. Stephen Oduware, said that the workshop was organized to enable the people of the host community share their thoughts with HOMEF.
“So, we are here to sit with the community people, to hear those stories and also for us to talk together.
“It is about solidarity, integration and responsibility and we have heard it from them that there is a common demand that cuts across what the community needs and that is, the Dubri Oil must go, this pollution must go, that the people are now living corpses.
“The temperature here is far higher than normal. So, it is a call that this environmental injustice must stopped, this destruction of the people’s livelihoods must stop and justice must take its place.
“So, we are calling that the environment needs to be restored and remediated and reparations need to be paid to the people”, Oduware said.
