The Coalition of Rivers Oil and Gas host communities has vowed to resist alleged moves by the Senate to amend the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Act to include Lagos, Bauchi and Ogun States to the commission.
The group said any attempt to shortchange the people of the Niger Delta Region would be vehemently opposed.
Chairman of the coalition, Barituka Loanyie, in a statement yesterday, stated that the NDDC was created to serve as an interventionist agency for the development of the region following years of environmental degradation caused by oil multinationals .
He said: “The brunt of the activities of oil multinationals over the years of operation in the Niger Delta and Rivers State, in particular, are felt directly in varying degrees in the Niger Delta communities. Villages have lost their sources of livelihood. The high content of chemicals released into their waters, land and air through incessant oil spillage and gas flaring have a correlative negative effect on the economy, health and psychology of the people. Communities have been dislocated and several lives lost owing to multinationals unwholesome practice in the region.”
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