Bayelsa State Governor, Duoye Diri, has decried the prevalence of cancer and other bizarre ailments that are now common in the state owing to oil spillages destroying the eco-system.
Diri who led the state delegation to the presidency on Tuesday, said the oil companies extracting crude from the state are liable for such sicknesses as most of their facilities keep failing because they have become obsolete.
“As I speak with you today, issues about cancer are now almost like a normal thing in Bayelsa State. We have a report that has traced it to the activities of the oil companies, oil exploration, and all other types of very bizarre types of sicknesses that were not hitherto known to the people of Bayelsa State.”
Speaking on the mission of the delegation to the presidency, Diri said they came to thank the President for finding some of their sons and daughters worthy of occupying some national positions.
“We are here as a state delegation representing the government and the people of Bayelsa State. As a culture of the Ijaws, we came here on behalf of the Ijaws to acknowledge, appreciate and thank Mr. President for appointing our daughter as the Head of Service of the Federation and our sons into various positions of trusts.
“We have just done that, the delegation, leaders, traditional rulers, and chiefs and all of us representing the good people of Bayelsa State and beyond. In this delegation, we also have the president of the Ijaw National Congress and the president of the Ijaw Youth Council.
“The truth there is that Bayelsa state is the melting pot of all Ijaws. So we came as a state delegation on behalf of our people to appreciate the President for this very important appointments and we believe that our daughters and our sons will add value to this administration,” Diri said.
Commenting further on the level of devastation since the discovery of oil in the region, Diri said his people have largely been shortchanged despite huge resources accruing from the state.
He said a report detailing the level of devastation in the region is in the public domain which when implemented will address these existing challenges.
His words: “We all know the history of the discovery of oil in Nigeria and what made this country an oil producting country is because of Bayelsa State, even in the old Rivers State, oil was first struck in Bayelsa state at a place called Oloibiri in commercial quantity.
“That discovery made Nigeria to be internationally recognised as an oil producing state, but we have not gotten the returns of that asset in our land to the way that we would have expected, but all the same there is so much that has gone on over the years up to about 60 to 70 years since Nigeria became an oil producing country.
“Today, I presented what we call Bayelsa Oil and Environment Commission report to Mr President. That report was commissioned by my predecessor who is now a Senator, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson and when I came on board I followed up and that report was first presented to me in the House of Lords in UK.
“Just recently the Commission which is an international commission of researchers, scientists and professionals came to Nigeria and my state and formally presented that report to me. It was also presented in Abuja here and so today I had the opportunity to meet with Mr President.
“I feel the recommendation in that report are all implementable to the letter and as a state we have the recommendations in that report which must be implemented because it contains what Bayelsa has been crying over the years for.”
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