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… Demands Clean Up, Compensation
By Aherhoke Okioma, Yenagoa
Youths from Koluama Clan in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State have staged a peaceful protest at the weekend in Yenagoa to draw global attention to the oil spill ravaging their area.
They met with the special adviser on Oil and Gas to the governor, Hon. Franklin Otele, to register their grievances with the state government to prevail on the oil companies responsible for the spill to deal with the matter.
The youths led by the Youth President of Koluama 1, Mr. Emmanuel Tiwei Phillip, appealed to Hon. Otele to prevail on the oil companies to send relief materials and medical teams to the impacted community.
Mr. Phillip expressed deep concerns over the total neglect of host communities by the oil multinationals despite series of appeals on the effect of the spills on their environment and aquatic lives as well as their source of livelihood.
He accused the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) of connivance with oil companies in the destruction of their environment.
The youths leader called on the multinationals to live up to their corporate social responsibility by providing social amenities, potable drinking water and health care in these oil producing communities that have been living in abject poverty and utter neglect.
The special adviser to the governor on Oil and Gas, Hon. Franklin Otele, thanked them for the peaceful protest and not taking laws into their hands.
He assured them that the relevant government agencies would work hard to confirm the oil company responsible for the oil spill after appropriate laboratory test.
Also, the senior special assistant to the governor on Oil and Gas, Chief Solomon Timi Seimiebo, thanked them for the peaceful protest and urged them to remain calm as the government would do the needful on the issue.
