Polluted site in Niger Delta
Ernest Chinwo
Stakeholders at a workshop on the remediation of hydrocarbon polluted sites in the Niger Delta have called on government at all levels to carry out special studies on global trends in the management of pollution.
The stakeholders comprising environmentalists, academics, engineers and top government officials made the call in a communiqué issued after a one-day workshop organised by the Stanley Lawson Chair of Environmental Geology at the University of Port Harcourt.
Such step, according to the communiqué, would enable government to domesticate the study to meet peculiarities of the petroleum sector in Nigeria.
They also urged the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency to carry state governments and other relevant stakeholders along in all environmental programmes and activities.
According to the communiqué, this will enable most Nigerians to participate effectively in the implementation of national environmental regulations and policies.
“The Stanley Lawson Chair on Environmental Geology in collaboration with other relevant stakeholders should develop and step up advocacy on environmental governance at all levels of the society through mass advocacy and novel programmes.
“Government should encourage and promote capacity building, including research and human resources development, on environmental issues through training and retraining, including the provision of facilities for environmental monitoring, assessment and research.
“There is need for awareness and constant consultations with different stakeholders on the implementation of new and existing environmental laws and regulations,” the communiqué further read.
It also expressed the need to put in process the timely implementation of remediation projects on hydrocarbon polluted sites in the country.
The communiqué urged government to increase funding for environmental governance, particularly in the area of compliance monitoring and enforcement in order to tackle incidence and management of oil pollution.
“Stakeholders in the petroleum sector should endeavour to promote well informed community vanguards on environmental policing to secure and safeguard oil facilities from intentional tampering,” the document read.