The former Governor of Rivers State, Dr Peter Odili, has said the Niger Delta region would only have peace if the environmental injustice that resulted from years of exploration and exploitation of oil and gas is addressed by the Federal Government.
Odili said this in his Foreword to a book titled: “The Niger Delta Paradox; Impoverished in the Midst of Abundance,” launched in Port Harcourt.
According to him, any arrangement that does not accord priority benefit to the people who are sitting on any type of resources is a deviation from natural justice.
He said before oil was discovered in commercial quantity in 1956, the Niger Delta region was the major food producing area and was termed the “bread basket” of the nation.
He regretted that despite the vast resources of the region, majority of the people are poor, saying over 60 per cent of the people have no access to primary health care, with unemployment among the educated youth threatening social and political stability in the region.
Also speaking, the Director, Academic Planning Unit, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Port Harcourt, Prof Vincent Asuru, said that poverty index in the Niger Delta shows that the region is one of the most impoverished in the world.
According to him, violence and social vices only strive in an environment where unemployment and hunger become the order of the people.
He recommended the book to the governments, multinational companies and individuals as a panacea to major challenges facing the people of the region.
Also, a former Director in Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Timi Alaibe, said those who always dismiss the outcry and protest of the Niger Delta are people who have not experienced the agony faced by the people of the region.
Alaibe described the book as a huge contribution towards drawing further attention to the plight of the people and called on governments at all levels as well as oil companies to take proactive measures to recover the region from age-long environmental abuse and human injustice.
In his brief statement, Professor Nelson Brambaifa described Niger Delta region as Sahara desert of poverty resulting from oil exploration since 1956.
He said the effects of oil exploration in the region would be more regrettable in the future if proper and urgent measures are not taken to address the neglect and injustice in the area.
Brambaifa called for a restructuring that would guarantee the future livelihood of the people in the face of exploration in the region.
