Youths from some communities in Gokana Local Government Area, have threatened to disrupt the on-going clean up exercise in the area if the Federal Government fails to mainstream the compensations payments into the clean up process.
This was part of a resolution reached at the end of a sensitization and awareness summit on Environmental, Social and Human Rights Impacts of Pollution organised by the Centre For Human Rights and Development (EHRD), in conjunction with the Catholic Organisation for Relief and Development Aid (CORDAID) at Kpor, headquarters of Gokana Local Government Area.
According to the resolution, most youths are bent on disrupting the cleanup process except compensation is paid to communities in the area.
A youth leader from Kpor, who spoke under condition of anonymity, urged the government to look into the demands of the youths with a view to avoiding a disruption of the cleanup exercise.
Some participants also lamented the negative impacts of oil pollution on their environment, stressing that the situation has affected their farmlands and rivers.
According to them, their sources of livelihood have been destroyed, resulting in immense sufferings. While stressing that, the cleanup was a welcome development, they stressed the need for government to provide compensation and relief materials to alleviate the sufferings of communities in the area.
Speaking, the project officer, Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD), Rukevwe Siakpere commended the communities for their peaceful dispositions towards the cleanup process.
While describing the demands for compensation as legitimate, Siakpere urged them to remain peaceful and encourage the government to successfully carry out the cleanup exercise with a view to restoring back their environment.
She said that the summit was aimed at sensitizing them on their roles in the restoration of Oganiland.
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Ogoni Clean-Up: Communities Threaten Disruption Over Compensation
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