According to a statement jointly signed by Policy Alert’s Programme Lead on Climate Change, Environment and Extractives, Ms. Linda Agbor, and the Executive Director of environmental NGO, Peace Point Action, Umo Isua-Ikoh, actions have already been held in Nigeria at Oloibiri, Bayelsa State, and will continue later in the week at Bori, Rivers State and Ibeno, Akwa Ibom State.
Both groups will be joining their partners and hundreds of concerned citizens this Saturday for the Day of Action at Ibeno, where Exxon Mobil’s extractive activities are seriously undermining the environment and local livelihoods.
The statement explained that the action is part of coordinated actions by thousands of climate activists around the world between the 4th and 15th of May 2016, calling global attention to the need to wean the world from its dependence on fossil fuels, which have only bred pollution, resource conflicts and economic disaster.
“Despite Nigeria’s fossil addiction for the better part of a century, all we are left with to show for it is a badly damaged ecosystem and an economy we cannot be proud of” Agbor said.
“In Ibeno and other parts of the Niger Delta, oil spills and gas flares are permanent nightmares for the local communities, even as they live in abject poverty due to the destruction of their livelihood sources by oil and gas activities. On this Day of Action, we and our partners will be asking government to ‘hands-off’ the oil and to begin embracing cleaner sources of energy.
This is the first step towards a cleaner, healthier and more viable environment for the people of the Niger Delta. It will also help Nigeria progress towards its current commitments under globally agreed targets on climate change.”
Isua-Ikoh said: “Our environment is our heritage. We cannot continue to treat the Niger Delta environment with impunity. Oil and gas exploration and production has left in its wake environment disaster, poverty, disease and conflict.
The oil and gas multinationals are sacrificing our lives and the future of our children on the altar of profit and our governments have, unfortunately, become their bedfellows. We want to see an end to this.”
The statement also quoted key organizer of the Break Free movement and Director of Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Nnimmo Bassey: “The time has come to make fossil fuels history and give our environment and peoples a chance to recover from decades of unrelenting oil pollution.
By our actions we are standing in solidarity with communities in the oilfields of the Niger Delta, and other impacted communities around the world, demanding that our appetite for dirty energy must not be allowed to destroy the planet and future generations.”
Surveyor Efik, National Coordinator of Climate Change Network Nigeria and member of the Climate Action Network International warns that “the Nigerian government should not just sign an agreement to combat climate change but also take decisive action to break free from activities of greenhouse emissions that destroy our climate, our planet earth and our humanity.”
Media contacts:
Umoh Isua-Ikoh
08055184456
Tijah Bolton-Akpan
08034984063
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