The lawmaker representing Khana/Gokana Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Dumnamene Robinson Dekor has decried the continued operation of illegal crude oil refining, otherwise known as ‘Kpo-Fire’, stressing that the action is an invitation to environmental genocide.
Rt. Hon. Dekor who spoke to journalists in Abuja on Monday, lamented that artisan refining poses serious threat not only to the health of the people of the Niger Delta where these activities are prevalent but also to the economy of the nation because of the huge amount of crude oil unaccounted for.
Calling for the immediate halt to the practice, the Ogoni federal lawmaker said ‘Kpo-fire’ is seriously depleting the whole of the Niger Delta environment because of the high emission of hydrocarbon substances into the air.
His words: “The operators are committing ecocide on their own land. This is part of the degradation we are having with the mangroves. That is why we have to restore our mangroves to protect the coastal areas of Nigeria”.
The former Works Commissioner in Rivers State wants those charged with the implementation of the Ogoni Clean-up to treat the menace as top on their agenda.
He noted that the UNEP Report on Ogoniland also took cognizance of the activities of illegal crude oil operators and made provisions for remediation.
“To arrest that situation is to make sure that those who are involved in all those activities are brought into a pool where alternative sources of livelihood would be provided”, he submitted.
