02 June 2016, Abuja – The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Babachir Lawal, has assured oil producing communities of Federal Government commitment to attend to their genuine complaints.
Local fisher-men manoeuvre their canoe past an oil installation flaring gas in the background.
Lawal gave this assurance in a statement issued on Thursday in Abuja by Mr Mohammed Nakorji, an Assistant Director (Press) in the office of the SGF.
The statement said that the SGF gave the assurance when representatives of 27 oil impacted Itsekiri communities visited him in his office.
It said the representatives visited the SGF to demand the commencement of the second phase of the clean-up of their area in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State.
It said the demand for clean-up stemmed from the activities of the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company. According to the statement, the SGF informed his guests that the present administration pays serious attention to any community that has genuine complaint.
“Since the clean-up in your area is already ongoing, the government will definitely classify it as one of its priorities.
“We will do everything within the available resources to alleviate the suffering of the people, even though such projects will still have to go through procurement procedures,” the statement quoted Lawal as saying.
The statement said the spokesman of the group, Mr Orugboh Emmanuel, told the SGF that the communities had been denied of their means of livelihood due to the unwholesome environmental practices.
“Efforts to get the previous governments to complete the clean-up of the area failed,” the statement quoted Emmanuel as saying.
The statement commended the present government for its prompt response to the request of the communities.
- Vanguard
