Oil Producing Communities Suffer Environmental Degradation – Reps

The Joint House Committees on Environment, Petroleum Resources Upstream, Petroleum Resources Downstream and Climate Change, says that oil-producing communities in Nigeria have experienced environmental degradation and socio-economic marginalisation due to decades of oil exploration and exploitation.
The Chairman, Joint Committee on Environment, Julius Pondi, stated this in his opening remarks at the Public Hearing on the “need to investigate the service and unprecedented environmental damage within oil-producing communities”, in Abuja.
Pondi expressed regret that despite the laws and regulations enacted to safeguard the Nigerian environment and the established regulatory agencies of the government mandated to address these concerns, the environmental damages in oil-producing communities still persist unabated.
According to him, it is incumbent on the National Assembly, as the representatives of the people, to identify the erring organisations, hold those responsible accountable, and take decisive action to mitigate the living conditions of the constituents.
The committee chairman noted that the hearing was not intended to witch-hunt any company, but to have clarity on the matter that has been brought to the attention of the committees and the House of Representatives.
Pondi urged all stakeholders present to “approach the hearing with an open mind, a spirit of cooperation, and a commitment to the search for the truth”.