Daily Trust
The Minister of State for Environment, Sharon Ikeazor, says the level of devastation being caused by oil spill in the Niger Delta region is “massive”.
The minister said this Thursday while speaking at the Special Weekly Briefing coordinated by the Presidential Communication Team at the State House, Abuja.
She said this while reacting to a question that sought to know what the Federal Government was doing to minimize the damage in Nembe, Bayelsa State, due to oil spillage from OML29 Wellhead.
Ikeazor, who likened the scenes of the spill to a site in Hiroshima, Japan, where an atomic bomb was dropped, stressed the need to strengthen the legal framework by amending National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) Act.
She said the law must be reviewed to enhance the capacity of NOSDRA to deal with oil companies found complicit in the spill.
She said: “On the Santa Babara ITO oil spills, you remember the ministry of environment issued a statement stating what happened and the action being taken. it’s a collection action between the ministry of petroleum resources, the ministry of environment and the oil company involved. It goes beyond the oil companies giving out palliatives, they must put measures in pace to prevent such accidents from happening.
“They are also claiming that the spill was due to sabotage by the local communities. We are going to have a targeted approach to illegal bunkering, tampering with oil installation and artisanal mining in the Niger Delta to get alternative livelihood for the young people of the Niger Delta, so that they would desist from this because it is further polluting the environment.
“The situation has been brought under control. I got a brief from DG of NOSDRA who was out on the field. So, now, work has to start on the proper clean up…
