Prime Initiative for Green Development (PIGD), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has drawn the attention of government and that of development partners to the urgent need to help address the deteriorating condition in Azubie Okujagu, a small coastline community in Rivers State, Niger Delta region, which is currently undergoing various challenges that are attributed to poor industrial and environmental practices.
Established to help eradicate environmental hazards, champion the concept of sustainable development and mainstream human rights into national development initiatives, the group highlighted challenges requiring attention to improve livelihoods in the village, located in Port Harcourt Local Government Area of the state, to include access to clean drinking water, incessant pollution and poor waste management system.
Pitiable ecological activities including oil spillage across the Niger Delta region have continued to threaten sources and standards of living, particularly the ecosystem where they are carried out and consequently constitute ecocide.
A scientific study released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 2011 revealed large-scale, continued contamination of the water and soil in the Niger Delta region, and the threat posed to human health. In one case, UNEP found that a community drinking well was polluted with benzene, a potentially carcinogenic substance, at levels 900 times above World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines.
Executive director of PIGD, ThankGod Tito Uzomah, who made this call during an advocacy visit with members of his team to the vulnerable community, described the situation faced by residents of the area as highly pathetic, in-human and tantamount to modern day slavery.
To effectively tackle and eradicate the aforementioned epidemic, according to him, there is conscious need for intervention and re-designing of the community’s development plan.