The African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development, (Centre LSD) has called on all stakeholders in the Niger Delta to come up with a roadmap that would ensure a healthier, safer, and more sustainable environment for the region.
The Executive Director Centre LSD Mr. Monday Osasah,said this at the press briefing on the clean-up of the Niger Delta and Revamp of the Ecosystem Validation Policy Tuesday in Abuja.
The Centre LSD Executive Director, noted that while the region has generated immense revenue for the county, its people continue to face environmental devastation, loss of livelihoods, destruction of ecosystems, and a profound erosion of dignity.
During his welcome remarks, Osasah said for over six decades, the Niger Delta- once lush, fertile, and teeming with life, has endured the heavy burden of crude oil exploration and exploitation.
“Today marks yet another critical step in our collective pursuit of justice, accountability, and environmental restoration for the people and communities of the Niger Delta.
“We gather here today to spotlight one of the gravest environmental tragedies in Africa’s history and validate a policy framework that seeks to transform despair into hope, pollution into prosperity, and neglect into renewed national commitment.
“The situation is not just ecological; it is socio-economic and deeply human.
On his part, the Founder Centre LSD Dr. Otive Igbuzor, recalled that Centre LSD has been in the forefront of the engagement on the clean-up of the Niger Delta for over a decade.
According to him, the focus of the briefing is on the Clean-Up of the Niger Delta, addressing one of the most pressing and long-standing environmental tragedies in the country’s history.
Dr. Igbuzor further said, for decades, the region has borne the brunt of oil exploration and exploitation, suffering ecological degradation, loss of livelihoods, and socio-economic disempowerment. “These wounds have festered, largely unattended.
“We are encouraged by the recent commitment of the current administration led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who has pledged to ‘heal the wounds of the past’, and unlock the human and natural resource potential of Ogoni land. This moment presents an opportunity for a policy window-to reinforce advocacy, align stakeholders, and push for real, measurable outcomes.”
Commending the support from Global Green Grant, under the project Advocacy for the Clean Up of Niger Delta, he said, it has come to re-enliven and deepen the engagement with both government and the impacted communities in the region.
“Several concerns around ecological and social justice in Ogoniland have been neglected. The world recognizes that the people of Ogoni have suffered unprecedented pains and losses on account of oil extraction. No apology has been rendered for the destruction of their environment, the killing of their people, the loss of their livelihoods, the destruction of their villages, the forced exile of their people and the murder of their leaders. To assume that the extraction of oil can commence whilst these issues remain on the front burner, is to be naive at best and cruel at worst.
“It is recommended that the government immediately puts structures in place to bring justice and closure to the countless victims of the oil induced conflict that devastated the community in the 1990s. It is recommended that the government puts a stop to any planned attempt to resume oil activities in Ogoniland, and rather concentrate on redeeming the ecological disaster in the area, decommissioning aged oil infrastructure, replacing the lost livelihood of the people and securing justice for the countless Ogonis waiting for closure,” he added.