BY SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
The Ijaw Professionals Association has called for urgent government intervention over severe gas pollution threatening lives and livelihoods in Bille community, Rivers.
The association, in a statement issued by Maj.-Gen. Paul Toun (Rtd.), Chairman, Board of Trustees, said gas was bubbling across the community’s land, rivers and water wells.
It said underground water and surface water had been contaminated, while dug-out wells were producing blackish water amid the absence of pipe-borne water.
The association said the environmental crisis had also polluted the air and rendered parts of Bille unsafe for human habitation.
It expressed concern over the death of a community member, Miss Joy Amos, who allegedly sustained severe burns from a gas explosion and died after 19 days of treatment.
The group said respiratory and other medical problems were also being reported in the community, describing the situation as a humanitarian emergency.
It blamed the Federal Government, petroleum industry regulators, oil companies operating in the area, the Rivers Government, legislators, the local government council and traditional rulers for failing to adequately address the crisis.
The association particularly accused oil companies, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC, of continuing to extract resources from Bille without adequate remediation, compensation, decommissioning of hazardous facilities or social investment.
It also criticised what it described as the diversion of resources that should support environmental justice campaigns to political activities.
The group said letters, delegations and appeals had failed to produce the desired results, insisting that sustained advocacy and lawful mass action were now necessary.
It therefore called on the Ijaw nation to mobilise for lawful action against the authorities and companies it held responsible until concrete and verifiable measures were taken to address the situation.
The association also appealed to people of means within the Ijaw nation to redirect part of their political campaign resources towards legal and advocacy efforts for Bille and other affected communities.
It further called on international organisations, including the United Nations, World Health Organisation, UN Environment Programme, International Criminal Court, African Commission on Human Rights, Amnesty International, Friends of the Earth International and Greenpeace, to intervene.
The association said such intervention should focus on humanitarian relief, environmental justice and legal accountability for the people of Bille and other affected Ijaw communities in the
Niger Delta.
Jude Ossai (JP) a veteran journalist is a National Diploma holder in Mass Communication from Ogwashi-Uku Polytechnic Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State. He also studied at Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) Enugu and Imo State University, Owerri for his first and second degrees in Mass Communication, respectively.
He writes extensively on politics, crime, corruption, climate change, healthcare, human rights, social justice, among others.
He began his journalism career in The Republic Newspaper, Lagos in 1987 as a Special Correspondent in Benin City, Edo State.
In 1990, he was posted from Lagos to old Anambra State as a State Correspondent in Enugu.
In 1994, he joined the African Newspapers of Nigeria (ANN) Plc, Ibadan, Oyo State, Publisher of Nigerian Tribune Newspapers where he rose to the rank of Southeast Bureau Chief.
Retiring from the mainstream traditional media in 2019, he began another journey in online newspaper publication.
He was the Overall Best Reporter in 2015, an award bestowed on him by Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Enugu State.
He has attended several workshops/seminars organised by multi-nationals, government institutions, local and international media including BBC.
He is also a unionist and had held top positions as Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Journalists of Enugu Correspondents’ Chapel and State Council of NUJ, respectively. He was also a one-time Enugu State Secretary of Sports Writers’ Association of Nigeria (SWAN).
