Niger Delta: Oil Companies are terrorists, killing our people gradually – Gov. Dickson

Bayelsa State Governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson, has branded oil multinationals operating in the state and other states in the Niger Delta region as terrorists gradually killing the people of the region with their activities, which pose serious health risk to the people.

Dickson, also reiterated that there’s a silent health crisis that has been on for over 60 years in the region, which is the simple reason he has always referred the activities of this oil companies as environmental terrorism.

The governor stated this at the weekend during the presentation of the interim report by the Bayelsa State Oil & Environmental Commission (BSOEC), in Yenagoa, the state capital.

It will be recalled that the governor inaugurated the commission in March 2019, headed by the Most Rev. Dr. John Sentamu, the Arch bishop of York.

Dickson, while addressing stakeholders and other members of the commission, noted that, “The world will continue to know what the state has been suffering from the hands of the multinationals. A silent health crisis is happening in our state, which is why I have always refer the activities of the oil companies to environmental terrorism.

” The terrorist is only the one who walks up to you with a gun or another one who blows himself up for a purpose maybe personal, material or ideological, but another brand of terrorism that is real but very silent is ongoing.

“Killing our people in installments and in advance, just take a blood sample of us here and those that are not from this region and you’ll be shocked. Nobody is talking about it, we are dealing with a major crisis of monumental proportion but we will continue to preach to the conscience of the world for them to know that beyond making money, beyond crude oil being a very important part of international diplomacy, the health of the people matters.”

Earlier, the Chairman of the Commission, Dr. John Sentamu, noted that over the past seven months, the commission has been investigating, gathering evidences and testimonies on the impact of the activities of multinationals in the state, adding that what they have seen amounts to environment genocide taken place in the state.

He emphasized that the oil companies has done terrible damage and they can’t be allowed to get away with it any longer.

Sentamu, further described as organized theft that has gone on for over 50 years regionally and internationally. He said with the report they hope to mount pressure on the companies to operate legally and morally responsibly the way they do in other developed countries.

“We hope to mount pressure on the companies to operate through the same legal and morally responsibly the way they do in the United Kingdom, so that if there are spillages, they don’t get away but rather clean up and pay huge bills of compensation because the damage has been done for so long, with these measures, we can bring about change for the people.”

During the launch of the Interim report in Nigeria, Dr Sentamu said:
“Roughly 40m litres of oil wind up in the Niger Delta annually, eight times more than is spilled in America, the world’s biggest producer and consumer.”

“Early analysis shows that if Bayelsa’s share of oil spilled is the same as oil pumped, as much as a barrel of oil may have been spilled for every man, woman and child living in Bayelsa today. It is estimated that the consequences of oil spills may kill around 16,000 infants in the Niger Delta annually within their first month of life.”

In his brief, the state Commissioner for Environment, Comrade Udenz Eradiri, charged Bayelsans to rise up for the state, adding that the time to save our lives is now.

He commended the governor for coming to save the state a great deal of setting up a model to actualise the dream of the region.

He further urged the youths to desist from being tools used by this IOCs to destroy the state.

The Commission is chaired by the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu. Commissioners include Baroness Valerie Amos, former Under Secretary General at the United Nations, and John Kufuor, former President of Ghana, as well as a number of high-level experts including pre-eminent expert on the Niger Delta, Professor Michael Watts.