ABUJA — Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha of Bayelsa State has described the Federal Government’s deadline on the abrogation of gas flaring in 2008 as not feasible. Speaking to Vanguard in Abuja after the consultative forum with captains of Oil and Gas industry, the governor alleged that the foreign companies which are responsible for the gas flaring are not interested in the wellbeing of the people of the Niger Delta and the government is not committed to implementing the laws guarding the environment in the country.
He accused the oil companies of waging a systematic campaign to wipe out the population of the region through gas flaring, adding that the effect of burst pipelines which criss-cross the length and breadth of the region pose serious threat to both farmlands and human beings. According to him, "so many communities have been wiped off, crude oil is being transported to Bonny and Forcados through pipelines and these pipelines cross waters farmlands and human beings."
The Governor stated that a visit to the oil communities invoke sadness and anger as their living condition is nothing near what is obtainable in those developed countries where these multinational companies came from. He added that what we are saying is, “you don’t have to eliminate our race because you want to make profit from our race, gas flaring is not acceptable.”
He noted that the level of gas flaring in Nigeria is greater than the current world standard of 40% gas flaring. Chief Alamieyeseigha maintained that “research has shown that the world standard as at today is 40%. Nigeria alone has recorded above 70% of gas flaring and out of the 40% of the world standard, Nigeria constitutes 25% out of the 40%."
In his opinion, he described Bayelsa State which has the largest body of forest, fresh water and wide area of diversity in the Niger Delta as the epicentre of all oil activities in the region and observed that the state should be used as a case study in the issue of environmental degradation.
Asked whether the Federal Government’s deadline to end gas flaring by 2008 would be feasible, the governor merely described it as another charade since there appears to be no serious attempt at enforcing it.
