Gas Flaring: Traditional ruler tasks FG, oil companies

Eze Mike Owulo, the paramount ruler of Asa kingdom in Oyigbo Local Government Area of Rivers, has urged the Federal Government to compel international oil companies to end gas flaring.
Owulo told newsmen in Port Harcourt on Tuesday that gas flaring had led to several premature deaths of inhabitants of the Niger Delta region.
According to him, the flared gas contains toxic chemical components which pollute both the air and rain water, a major source of drinking water for many residents.
“Oil flare and spillages have caused deadly sicknesses, diseases and led to deaths of many people in the Niger Delta region.
“The Federal Government should, as a matter of urgency, call to order multinational oil companies operating in the area.
“We demand that immediate attention be given to our call, going by the hazardous oil exploration which has exposed many of our people to untold health challenges.”
Owulo noted that the failure of the Federal Government and international oil companies to address decades-long pollution of the environment partly led to militancy and unrest in the region.
He said that attacks on oil and gas installations and other criminality would cease to exist, if government addressed environmental issues and economic challenges of the Niger Delta people.
The monarch further urged the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, and the National Assembly to “re-invest’’ the 13 per cent oil derivation into oil producing communities.
“This re-investment will go a long way to alleviate the sufferings of oil producing communities,” he said.