Sunday, June 19, 2011

Group slams government, oil majors over poor response to oil spills

Business Day
17 June 2011


.A coalition of civil society organisations, under the aegis of National Coalition on Gas Flaring and Oil Spills in the Niger Delta (NACGOND), has criticised the government and major oil companies operating in Nigeria over poor response to oil spills in the oil-rich Niger Delta region. NACGOND was formed to continue advocacy on issues concerning environmental degradation in the Niger Delta and ways to address it, after a stakeholders meeting by Chatham House, London, in May last year.
The group argued that the situation has caused the grievances and violence in the region; thus, they called for more transparent and responsive mechanism on oil spills as well as a permanent end to gas flaring in region.

“Government and oil majors must recognise that the current system of oil spill response does not work and has contributed to one of the core grievances of the Niger Delta region. This failure has supported the space in which violence has emerged. It is time for a non violent approach to address this critical ecological and environmental disaster,” it observed.

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