Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike has called on the leadership of the United Nations to prevail on the Federal Government\u00a0 to implement the clean up\u00a0 of Ogoni-land, which was flagged off, last year.
\nSpeaking at\u00a0 Government House, Port Harcourt yesterday, when\u00a0 he granted audience\u00a0 to the United Nations Resident\/Humanitarian Coordinator, Mr Edward Kallon, the governor regretted that nothing has so far been done on the Ogoni clean up.
\nHe said that large scale environmental pollution in different parts of the state leads to\u00a0 environmental degradation, which negatively\u00a0 affects the sources of livelihood\u00a0 of the people.
\nHe said the clean up of Ogoni land should not be politicised, as it dwells directly on the development of the area.
\nThe governor said, \u201cyesterday in the Senate, somebody said that the Federal Government has not done anything as far as Ogoni clean up is concerned. When we were saying it, they said we were playing\u00a0 politics.\u00a0 But now, it has dawned on them that nothing is being done.\u00a0 So, we urge you to intervene.
\n\u201cPart of the problem we are having today is because of the lack of attention by the Federal Government when it\u00a0 has to do with Rivers State.\u00a0 We will\u00a0 provide you with helicopter to see what we are talking about.\u00a0 Don\u2019t only read it on papers. You will really pity us. \u201c
\nSpeaking further, Wike said, \u201cthe Federal Government has taken our oil and our environment has been degraded.\u00a0 Nothing seems to be done.
\n\u201cWe urge you on your own part as the United Nations to impress on the Federal Government that this clean up is very serious.\u00a0 Let it not be a political issue. We should not play politics with the lives of the people\u201d.
\nThe governor also called on the United Nations to partner with the Rivers State Government\u00a0 in the area of commercial agriculture.
\nHe said because of the volatile nature of oil prices, investments in\u00a0 commercial agriculture will help create jobs for unemployed youths.
\nWike urged the United Nations\u00a0 to provide a link for investors\u00a0 in\u00a0 commercial agriculture to come to the state, adding that his administration\u00a0 will provide incentives\u00a0 such as access to land and certificate of occupancy.
\nWhile soliciting for partnership\u00a0 in the area of environmental sanitation, Wike declared that his administration places premium on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
\nHe informed the United Nations\u00a0 that his administration has improved security through the diligent implementation of the state amnesty programme.
\nWike said that the state government\u00a0 was working with relevant agencies to improve\u00a0 human rights and decongest the prisons.
\nEarlier, the United Nations Resident\/Humanitarian Coordinator, Mr Edward Kallon, had lauded the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike for his infrastructural\u00a0 development, which has improved\u00a0 the living condition of the people.
\nHe said the United Nations\u00a0 will continue to mobilise support for the development of Rivers State.\u00a0 He assured that the United Nations will partner with the Rivers State Government in the area of agriculture as a tool of employment generation and empowerment.
\nThe UN chief added that partnership will be developed\u00a0 with the Rivers State Government in the areas of Sustainable Development Goals, improvement of security, environmental sanitation, promotion of human rights and prisons decongestion.
\nMeanwhile, the Rivers State Government has advised the people of Barako and Nwebiara in Gokana Local Government Area, Rivers State, to sheathe their swords and maintain the peace at all times.
\nThe deputy governor stated this while receiving the summary\/recap of report on Barako\/Nwebiara boundary demarcation in her office in Port Harcourt, yesterday.
\nBanigo frowned at a situation where people take laws into their hands and destroy lives and properties because of land disputes, stressing that there are better options to resolve issues no matter how thorny they are.
\n\u201cWe must eschew violence because violence begets violence,\u201d she said.
\nThis, according to her, underscores the reason for the setting up of the Barako\/Nwebara Boundary Dispute Technical Committee made up of critical stakeholders to wade into the matter.
\nShe expressed satisfaction with the work done by the committee, noting that the report will be forwarded to the State Chief Executive, Chief Nyesom Wike, for his approval and necessary action.
\nAlso speaking, the Secretary of the Technical Committee, Engr Gloria Dans, who spoke through Mrs. Mercy Agetue, said the committee employed peace resolution processes such as negotiation and caucusing in hearing parties, and thanked the Chairman of the Rivers State Boundary Commission, Dr. Ipalibo Harry Banigo, for the opportunity to serve.
\nEarlier, the Surveyor General of the state, Noel Chikezie Elenwo, said issues of boundary disputes were not only peculiar to Rivers State alone, noting that the State Boundary Commission headed by the deputy governor is working within the confines\u00a0 of the law in addressing\u00a0 issues related to boundary disputes in the state.
\nHe commended the efforts of the Wike-led administration in tackling boundary disputes, while advising members of the public to desist from employing the services of quacks in the survey profession.
\nIt would be recalled that the Barako and Nwebiara communities in Gokana Local Government Area of the state have been locked up in a long battle over a piece of land for more than 80 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike has called on the leadership of the United Nations to prevail on the Federal Government\u00a0 to implement the clean up\u00a0 of Ogoni-land, which was flagged off, last year. Speaking at\u00a0 Government House, Port Harcourt yesterday, when\u00a0 he granted audience\u00a0 to the United Nations Resident\/Humanitarian Coordinator, Mr Edward Kallon, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":153404,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-153400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-front-pix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=153400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/153404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=153400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=153400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=153400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}