ABUJA — GOVERNOR Diepreye Alamieyeseigha has hit hard at oil companies operating in the Niger Delta area, laying charges of human rights abuse and environmental degradation at their doorsteps, even as he slammed the Federal Government for allegedly subjecting the people of the area to “colonial servitude.”
He also accused oil companies of instigating communities in the area against one another with a view to maximising profit at the expense of sustainable development, warning that the trend must be reversed now if the 2001 report by British Petroleum survey that Nigeria’s reserves of 22 billion barrels would be exhausted in 29 years was anything to go by, otherwise the area would have nothing to show for laying the golden eggs.
“In fact, the oil companies are a major hindrance to the attainment of good governance, environmental safety and healthy community relations,” he declared in a paper titled: “Niger Delta and Youth Restiveness: The Way Forward,” delivered yesterday at the 5th edition of Media Forum of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Abuja Chapter. Alamieyeseigha, in appraising the socio-economic challenge in the Niger Delta, said that neglect by the Federal Government and the oil companies in providing amenities and infrastructure was at the root of the crisis in the area.
According to him: “More than 70 per cent of the population in the Niger Delta live with an increasing out-migration to urban areas, which now stands at 5 per cent; whereas the rural populace lacks all forms of socio-economic amenities, high rates of urban population have compounded the general decline of services throughout the region. This has further taxed the capacity of the existing infrastructure, social service and the traditional sources of food supply.
“These pressure and their consequences are at the roots of the crisis in the Niger Delta. Virtually all rural communities and most urban areas need electricity, water for domestic use, waste and drainage management systems, health services, housing, mass transportation and educational infrastructure.
“As a result of the neglect by the Federal Government of Nigeria and oil companies in providing road infrastructure in the region, poverty and despair, unemployment and insecurity have become pervasive in the Niger Delta.
