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Environmental degradation: Dickson leads campaign in Senate

CHUKWU DAVID reports on how the senator representing Bayelsa West Senatorial District at the National Assembly, Seriake Dickson, has used his position to fight for the well-being of the Niger Delta communities, which have been suffering from prolonged environmental degradation occasioned by oil exploration in the region

Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, who is the immediate past governor of Bayelsa State, presently represents Bayelsa West Senatorial District at the National Assembly. Since his election to the Senate, he has been visibly vocal in defending not only the interest of the people of Bayelsa West but also the entire Niger Delta region, particularly on issues affecting the oil producing communities in the area.

For instance, when the Senate, last week Tuesday, considered a motion on “the extremely urgent need to stop the continuous crude oil and gas blow out spill at Santa Barbara well 1, OML 29 operated by AITEO Eastern Exploration and Production Company Limited in Opu Nembe, Bayelsa State,” Senator Dickson called for compensation of communities affected by the oil spillage.

The motion which was sponsored by Senator Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo (Bayelsa East) also attracted the comment of the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, who urged the Federal Government to penalize indigenous oil companies responsible for the devastation of host communities where they operate. In his reaction to the devastation caused by oil spillage in his state, Dickson expressed deep concern over the massive oil spill from OML 29 Well 1 Platform operated by AITEO Exploration and Production Company.

He lamented that since the spill occurred on November 5, over two million barrels of crude oil had been reportedly spilled into the Santa Barbara River in Nembe and Brass Local Government Areas of Bayelsa State. The lawmaker said that the operators of the oil firm, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the Ministry of Environment, National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) and others should take immediate steps to rescue the seriously threatened environment from total destruction.

The former governor also called on NOSDRA and oil firms to provide relief materials to the communities affected by the spill. He also called on the operators of the oil firm to engage the services of experts with the requisite technical competence to ensure that the destroyed well head was professionally repaired.

The lawmaker said that with the scope of the pollution caused by the oil spillage, there was the need for the Federal Government to make a comprehensive provision to ensure the commencement of immediate measures of remediation in the affected areas.

While sympathising with the people of the affected areas whose source of livelihood and health had been endangered by the massive oil spill which had not abated, Dickson condemned the needless controversy over the pollution and the attempt to politicise the spill, which he described as a straight forward case of pollution from the oil company. He stressed that what was needed at this point was remediation efforts by all stakeholders and not an attack on the communities or the state government, lamenting that the Niger Delta environment had been so badly polluted which was why he had always described Bayelsa as the headquarters of environmental pollution.

Dickson said that it was because of the rampant pollution that he constituted an international commission on environment, chaired by the Anglican Archbishop of York, Bishop John Sentamu (now retired.) The Sentamu-led Commission consists of international experts on environment.

He added that his foundation, the Henry Seriake Dickson Foundation will continue to propagate and highlight issues of environmental abuse in the Niger Delta, insisting that the Nembe spill is a classic example of what has been going on in the Niger Delta for the past 60 years The legislator lamented further that even the indigenous firms were not fairing better in the area of community relations and the protection of the environment than their international counterparts, noting that the oil firms operated like mafia groups, constituting grave security threats to the peace and security of the states in the Niger Delta, particularly in Bayelsa through their pipeline surveillance contracts. Earlier in July, Senator Dickson, also raised the alarm that the paltry three per cent Host Community Fund in the recently signed Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) was an invitation to unrest in the Niger Delta region Addressing a press conference in Abuja on July 22, Dickson accused the Minister of State, Petroleum, Timipre Sylva and the Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari of influencing the Senate on the percentage allocation for the Host Communities Development Trust Fund.

He noted that when the proposal was first made under the late President Umar Yar’Adua, the executive arm earmarked 10 per cent for the Host Communities Development Trust Fund, while 10 per cent was also proposed for oil exploration, saying that it was very insensitive for the National Assembly to reduce the Host Communities Development Trust Fund to three per cent, while jerking the allocation for oil exploration to 3o per cent. He observed that by so doing, the government was endangering the peace in the oil producing communities, who would also jeopardize the prospects of investment in the oil industry.

He argued that if the host communities are not happy, investors will not come to the region to invest because the environment would not be conducive for them to operate, expressing concerns that government was not currently engaging the affected communities. Dickson suggested further that the pipeline communities should also be carried along, so that the people within those communities will not vandalise the facilities. It is on record that Dickson walked out of the Senate Chamber in protest on the day the PIB was passed because according to him, the proposed three per cent was insensitive to the plight of the oil producing communities, who have been facing degradation as a result of oil exploration in the region.

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