Senator Ned Nwoko (PDP-Delta), Vice Chairman, the Senate Committee on Environment has disclosed that the Senate has decisively addressed the issue of environmental degradation in the country.
Nwoko, who represents Delta North Senatorial Constituency, disclosed that the main problem of environmental degradation is erosion, which has severely affected his home state of Delta, particularly the Northern Senatorial District.
He said another major concern is the floods affecting more than 13 states across the country and five local government areas in the Delta North Senatorial District.
He adds that another problem of environmental degradation is pollution.
According to him, environmental pollution arises from the careless throwing of waste and from the combustion of gases that are dangerous to the environment and human health.
“Then we have the pipelines that contain crude oil, the vandalism of the pipelines, and the leaks when they are destroyed.”
“An oil spill when Navy and Air Force personnel bomb illegal oil tankers, and the oil spill that results from such destruction results or even when our joint task force, as you know, seeks to prevent illegal refining by some locals.”
Nwoko disclosed that the issue, starting with erosion, has already been addressed by the Senate.
“We have made several lists of these places and included them in the next budget to address them urgently because some people’s lives are in danger, houses are in danger, and some villages are isolated.”
“But obviously there are floods a serious problem because they happen every year and destroy entire surrounding communities.
“Now we have explained to the President that two things must be done to avoid this annual crisis that we know will happen and yet we wait for it to happen without doing anything.
“So these two things have to be done at great cost, and the cost doesn’t matter because the job of governments is to spend money for the welfare of the people.”
“So if we don’t have the money to complete the dam built in the north a few years ago, this dam was intended to capture the water released from Cameroon’s dams.
“If it is not economically feasible to complete the dam that was abandoned a few years ago, we will have to build a new one. “That is something that needs to be done,” he said.
The lawmaker also said that there was a need to dredge the River Niger.
“It is also compulsory that we must dredge the River Niger, and in so doing, build embankments across the shoreline, and the waterfront areas.
“We are also trying to focus on stopping gas flaring and imposing huge penalties on those who flare gas and make them comply with international best practices.
“Really, you can’t get gas flaring in America, or Canada or in Romania, or some other oil-producing communities in the West because they must comply with pollution levels acceptable laws as stipulated by WHO and other such bodies.
“But of course, because Nigeria is Nigeria, they feel they can trample upon us and get away with it. No, not anymore. Not under our watch. The 10th assembly will be different.
“We will breathe down their neck and we must make sure that they respect humanity, they must respect human lives.
“They must understand that it’s unacceptable to destroy the ecosystem, destroy the habitats or the habitats and destroy human lives just because they’re making money,” Nwoko also said.
Source: NAN
