Rivers community petitions FG over pollution

The President-General of Ndoni District Youth Federation, Ambassador Anthony Major, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to come to the aid of the community over what he described as environmental degradation and pollution of Ndoni community occasioned by exploration activities of an oil prospecting company. Ambassador Major in a petition by his counsel, Oghenovo Otemu […]

The President-General of Ndoni District Youth Federation, Ambassador Anthony Major, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to come to the aid of the community over what he described as environmental degradation and pollution of Ndoni community occasioned by exploration activities of an oil prospecting company.

Ambassador Major in a petition by his counsel, Oghenovo Otemu and addressed to President Buhari, ministries of Environment, Health and Petroleum, the Department of Petroleum Resource, DSS, Inspector-General of Police and the Nigerian Local Content Monitoring Board, expressed concern over erosion which, he said, had eaten up half of the community’s arable lands as well as the pollution of its only source of drinking water.

He said “my people are no longer living in a safe and healthy environment because of the activities of an oil prospecting company which operates OML 146.

“The road that leads to the communities has been damaged by the activities of the company; erosion has washed away the jetty that the government built for us because of the activities of the company.

“The only source by which my communities take their drinking waters from River Niger has been contaminated by the company’s activities.”

He said residents of the area are exposed to communicable diseases as a result of polluted environment and contaminated water.

The managing director of the company, Mr Deepak Barot, did not pick calls to his phone by our reporter. He also did not respond to text messages sent to his phone.