By: Felix Ikpotor
Stakehokders in maritime and environment have tasked the Rivers State Government begin steps to enthrone a Blue Economy in the state.
The stakeholders also called on government to leverage the Ogoni cleanup scheme to launch appeals for total cleanup of the state by starting with an environmental audit of the state.
These were key resolutions at the World Ocean Day celebration organised by the Energy and Maritime Reporters (EMR) of Nigeria which took place at the Rivers State Council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) secretariat in Port Harcourt.
Stakeholders at the event regretted that Rivers State, a key coastal state, is not taking advantage of the low hanging fruits in the dawn of the Blue Economy, and called on the state government to set up a dedicated ministry for this and develop a blueprint to explore the sector in line with the Federal Government’s policy.
The stakeholders said if such a Ministry had been set up, that EMR members and other stakeholders would be engaging with it to render support and ideas to make Rivers State a leading state in the Blue Economy headway.
On cleanup, the stakeholders observed that Rivers State stood at huge advantage to leverage Ogoni Cleanup to get the experts and resource persons that audited Ogoni environment to also audit the state and invite oil majors, the Federal Government, and the international community to support cleanup of the state.
Experts said such would have laid a drive for other states to latch on the Rivers blueprint to push for the cleanup of the entire Niger Delta.
Dr Suka Monta, an energy expert, while speaking at the event affirmed that his firm has found a way to clean up pollution faster, better, and cheaper. He said his nano method does it once while the exiting technology runs a site thrice to get result. He said oil companies and agencies of government have his discovery to test and saw it to be true. He said his firm is expecting to land its first cleanup project soon.
Also, Dr Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface, Executive Director, Youth and Environment Centre (YEAC) Nigeria, joined the call for total cleanup of the Niger Delta, saying modular refineries would have since made pipeline vandalism and artisanal refining a thing of the past.
Comrade Paul Bazia-Nsaneh, the state NUJ Chairman, commended the EMR, describing it as a unique beat association. He pledged total support to the group to help give voice to the energy and maritime sub sectors in the Niger Delta.
Ignatius Chukwu, the EMR Leader, harped on the harms from the ocean due to harms done to the ocean by humans. He mentioned micro and nano plastics pollution now threatening humanity through poisoned fish stock from the seas and oceans. He also appealed to Indorama Nigeria to as part of corporate social responsibility, help set up plastics recycling centres starting from the Niger Delta.
Comrade Martins Giadom, national chairman of EMR, traced the years of efforts of the association to set agenda for reporting the energy and maritime sectors, saying there is need for training of Reporters to do better. He also called for linkup to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to help guide activities of the EMR.
Goodwill messages were rendered by experts including Wonne Afronelly, Initiator, My Environment My Wealth Nigeria, who encouraged Journalists to continue to fight for the environment despite numerous setbacks and apparent conspiracies.
