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dam-l Niger delta dredging opposition/LS
THE OBSERVER ON SATURDAY.
Vol. IX. No. 3,314 March 4, 2000
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"DSTG objects to dredging of River Niger"
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Delta state government, has rejected the N8.3 billion River Niger dredging
contract awarded by General Abdusalami Abubakar regime. Chief James
Manager, Delta State Commisioner for Works and Housing who made this know
yesterday while briefing the press on activities and achivements of his
ministry in the last seven months said government has to reject the
contract due to the requests, yearning and protest of Deltans, on dredging
exercise.
The commisioner said government and people of the state were disturbed by
the gross ecological degradation which the degradation project will cause
to the environment of Deltans in eight local government areas who lived
along the river bank.
According to the commissioner, the project entails the dredging of some 537
kilometres stretch of the River Niger from Baro in Niger state to Warri in
Delta state.
In Delta, the project will affect Oshimili South, Ndokwa East, Patani,
Ughelli South, Warri South and Warri North.
At the briefing , the commissioner said the ministry in the last seven
months spent totla sum of N307 million, on the rehabilitation of roads in
Warri and Effurun metropolis. He said that N18.42 million, was spent on the
construction of 20 units of three bedroom apartments built for the
legislators at Asaba while another N20 million was spent on theprovision of
basic utilities which include water, electricity and furnishings at the
legislators quarters.
Fencing and furnishing of commissioners' quarters he said also gulped a
total of N51.03 million adding that the ministry through the Delta
Development and Property Authority completed 95 out of 100 housing units
for jyunior workers in Asaba at a cost of N150 million among others.
The dredging of River Niger, exparts say will affect the ecosystem which
could lead to the destruction of both the flora and fauna in the river
some of which will face extinction. This he said will impinge adversely on
the livelihoods of the people living along the river Niger.
It is against this backdrop thatan Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is
expected to be carried out before the dredging could be accepted. The 15
man EIA team raised by government has been roundly criticised by a number
of communities and key stake holders of the lower Nigeria river.
Already the Ijaw National Congress has taken the federal government to
court of the dredging of the river and has recently warned against going
ahead with the dredging while the case was still in court.
Last weekAfrican Network for Environmental and Economic Justice ANEEJ
flagged off a campaign against the dredging of the River Niger saying it is
an affront on the people of the lower Niger.
The group adviced the Federal government to shelve the plan to dredge the
river Niger and channel the over N8 billion Naira cost of the project to
infrastructural development of the niger Delta people.
ANEEJ spokesman Rev. David Ugolor relied on the non availability of a
realistic impact assessment reports to make claims. He wondered how
government could go force a project down the troat of the people
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Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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