13 February 2017, Yenagoa —Hard times await oil companies operating in Bayelsa State which do not operate within the law, as the state government has threatened to file cases against any company that causes spillage in the state.
Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in the state, Mr. Kemasuode Wodu, handed down the warning in Yenagoa while inaugurating Bayelsa State Committee on the Domestication of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.
According to him, the state had suffered many years of oil spillage which had claimed many lives. He added that the state’s environment, flora and fauna, on which the very existence of the people revolves, were being threatened.
He said, “In the last few weeks, the state government has commenced the initiation of proceedings for the protection of our environment against oil pollution. We have a committee working on it. The first action has been suits, in which we are claiming N1.6 trillion against an oil company for remediation of the environment and demanding compensation to those whose property had been impacted or polluted by the activities of the oil companies.”
– Vanguard