An Environmentalist, Mr. Iniruo Wills, has called on the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, to issue Executive Order declaring December 31, 2018 as the deadline for gas fl aring in the Niger Delta region. Mr. Will, who said this recently in Yenagoa, added that an executive order was required to put an end to constant shifting of gas fl aring deadlines since 1970s.
“the final irreversible deadline” for gas fl aring if there are genuine and compelling factors that could make the earlier date unrealizable. It would be recalled that the last deadline which expired in 2014 was shifted to December 31, 2020 by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR). While noting that there was an urgent need for a comprehensive action to protect the environment, ecosystems and communities in the Niger Delta region, the environmentalist maintained that such action should be devoid of the usual politics by successive administrations.
He urged government at all levels to take a holistic action to stop oil pollution, penalize individuals and corporate executives. Further, he suggested that individual regulatory executives, who have allowed the continual oil pollution to be accepted as normal fl aring in Nigeria, should be sanctioned. He urged Osinbajo to direct the Ministers of Environment, Petroleum Resources, Health and Niger Delta Affairs, to immediately initiate the conduct of an independent holistic study.
“Th e study should be conducted by reputable consortium of experts and technical organisations including UNDP and the WHO to ascertain the cumulative environmental, health and socioeconomic impact of oil and gas exploration on host and transit communities. He urged governors of the aff ected Niger Delta states to stop paying lip-service to protection of the environment as had been the case. Wills advised the governors to begin to make the protection of communities’ coastal environment their constitutional duty to the people of the region. H e u r g e d t h e f e d e r a l government to empower, fund and order the relevant agencies to take quick and sustainable measures to correct the behaviour of the oil and gas-producing and allied corporations.
