Oil spill: Reps promise to compensate Ondo communities, ensure environmental justice

The House Host Communities Committee has ensured that communities affected by the oil spill and explosion in Awoye, Ilaje de Ondo Local Government Area, will be compensated and ensure environmental justice for the people of the area. .

House Host Communities Committee Chairman Dumnamene Dekor gave the assurance in Awoye, Ondo State, in the context of a recent oil spill in the area.

Dekor said the three-man committee visited the state for an on-site assessment of affected areas and to have interactions with people about the level of damage to communities.

He said the team had come from Abuja to get information and interact with people living in the area, making moves on how the company responsible for the disaster can be held responsible for remediation, cleanup and compensation for victims.

The president of the Committee pointed out that the National Assembly, through the Petroleum Industry Law (PIA), has been able to offer solutions to the threat.

“From our interaction with people, we found that people have given us their own opinion, we have seen it for ourselves, and by the grace of God, we will come to our findings in order to address these issues for both people and people. as for the others. the operators so that there is a lasting solution,” he said.

He urged all operating companies to take environmental issues more seriously, lamenting that the impacts of such degradation through exploration have always left host communities poorer and more deplorable.

The chairman of the committee, however, stated that they could not decide on the matter until they submit their report to the leadership of the National Assembly, which will find a lasting solution to the threat.

“There are modes of operations, it should not be that they come and extract and leave. It must be that they must have a relationship with people. I think with the PIA will come a lot more innovation and remediation,” he said. (Nigerian Tribune)