Confab Delegate Laments Pollution Of N’Delta Communities

A member of the on-
going National Conference, Dr Isaac Osuaka, has described the Niger Delta as the worst polluted region in the world.
Speaking at the Niger Delta consultative forum in Port Harcourt, Dr Osuaka, said that most communities in the region have lost their means of livelihood as a result of oil pollution.
Dr Osuaka, who is one of the representatives of civil society organisations at the conference said that the people of the Niger Delta will no longer fold their hands, while the region is being polluted everyday by the activities of oil companies.
He said that it is against this background that the people of the region are demanding for resource control and political restructuring of the country to guarantee true federalism.
According to him, the issue of the land use tenure should be addressed to enable the people access to their land.
Also speaking, Miss Ann Kio Briggs, said that the region is demanding for full control of its resources , stressing that this would pay for the long years of environmental degradation which the region has experienced.
Miss Briggs, who is a member of the national conference said that Nigeria must be restructured to guarantee a sense of belonging to all its segments, stressing that the 1999 constitution is against the survival of the country.
According to her, every part of Nigeria must be allowed to explore its natural resources for its development and pay tax to the federal government.
Earlier, the chairman of the occasion, Professor Andrew Efemini said that the peoples’ voices must be heard in this trying time.
Professor Efemini also charged representatives of the region at the conference not to relent until the issue of environmental degradation was addressed.

A bus upturned by rainstorm on Ajase Ipo road in Ilorin, recently. Photo: NAN