Senate urges FG to mitigate environmental challenge - See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/07/senate-urges-fg-mitigate-environmental-challenge
The Senate on Tuesday in
Abuja passed a resolution urging the Federal Government to ensure effective use
of Ecological Funds to mitigate ecological challenge in the country.
The senate also urged the government
to undertake aggressive shoreline protection of coastal areas in the country.
The resolution followed a motion
moved by Sen. Emmanuel Paulker (PDP-Bayelsa) on Ocean Surge in Coastal Areas
and its Consequences for Coastal Dwellers.
Paulker informed the senate that
some residents of coastal communities in Bayelsa and Delta States had been
displaced by rising ocean waves.
He said the waves submerged the
communities and destroyed the sources of their livelihood.
He attributed the cause of the
disaster to the activities of some oil companies.
“These communities trace
the origin of their woes to the unmitigated impact of the explosion and fire
which occurred in January 2012 on the oil rig owned by Chevron.
“The explosion could
result in a calamity if nothing is done to mitigate its impact and other
consequent seismic implications’’, he said.
Contributing to the motion, Sen.
Ayogu Eze (PDP-Enugu state), called on the relevant government agencies to
enforce the laws against oil companies that breached guidelines on
environmental impact assessments.
“It shows that Nigerians who are
supposed to check these oil companies are not doing their work.
“The oil companies have to increase
their humanitarian activities to mitigate ocean surges’’, he said.
Sen. Ahmed Lawan (APC-Yobe) blamed
ecological challenges ravaging different parts of the country on misapplication
of ecological funds by the various tiers of government.
He urged the government to seek
assistance from other countries that have successfully addressed similar
ecological challenges in their environment.
“It is time for the senate to insist
that ecological funds are only deployed to mitigate ecological challenges and
not for selfish political purposes.
“It is time for Nigeria to partner
with other countries that have contended with similar challenges to help us out
of this problem’’, he said.
Sen. Ita Enang (PDP-Akwa Ibom),
urged the senate to investigate the matter to ascertain whether ocean surge had
any link to oil exploration.
“I don’t want us to take this as an
ordinary matter caused by ocean surge.
“We should investigate this matter
very seriously because it could be earth tremor or sinking of the earth as a
result of exploration activities of oil companies’, he said.
Sen. Helen Esuene (PDP-Akwa Ibom)
stressed the need for government to protect Nigeria’s mangrove forests by
regulating the activities of loggers who are depleting the Eco-system.
“Climate change is here with us and
we need to protect our mangrove forests by regulating the activities of loggers
because trees serve as our first line of defence against ocean surge’’, Esuene
noted.
Deputy President of Senate, Ike
Ekweremadu, who presided over plenary, urged the three tiers of government to
look into issues affecting the coastal areas.
He urged the relevant agencies to
commence immediate deployment of relief materials to the affected areas in
order to alleviate the suffering of the victims of the recent ocean surge.
“Our appropriate committee needs to
investigate who receive ecological funds and how they are applied.
“The government at different levels
needs to show more interest regarding our coastal lines in order to save lives
and property of our people who live there.
“We sympathise with the victims of
ocean surge and believe that the agencies concerned would go there as quickly
as possible to help to alleviate their sufferings’’, Ekweremadu added.
The senators called on the National
Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the Ecological Fund Office of the
Federation and other relevant agencies to send relief materials to victims of
the ocean surge. (NAN)
- See more at:
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/07/senate-urges-fg-mitigate-environmental-challenge/#sthash.nxUEhQ0W.dpuf
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