From Tony John, Port Harcourt
Rivers State, governor, Nyesom Wike, has directed the chairmen of councils, particularly Port Harcourt City, to go after all the illegal crude oil refining sites and shut them down with immediate effect, to check the environmental menace occasioned by black soot in parts of the state.
He has also directed all council chairmen and community leaders to locate, identify and report to his office all those behind illegal bunkering and crude oil-refining sites in their localities for prosecution.
Governor Wike said the directive stemmed from failure of the Federal Government and its security agencies to rein in those behind illegal oil bunkering and artisanal crude oil refining in the state.
His words: “As a state government, we have drawn the attention of the Federal Government to this problem and requested for its intervention to stop the activities of illegal bunkering and artisanal crude oil refiners, which have been identified as the main sources of the soot pandemic.
“Unfortunately, the Federal Government has remained inexplicably silent over our request, and even complicit to a large extent with the security agencies actively aiding, encouraging and protecting the artisanal refiners to continue with their harmful activities unabated.”
The governor said the state government had equally appealed without success to persons engaging in the illegal business to consider its negative effects on the economy, environment, public safety and public health and disengage from it.
Wike assured that his administration would continue to do its best to meet the aspirations of citizens for a more peaceful, safe and secure society throughout the year 2022.
Meanwhile, the governor has deplored bandits’ attack in Sokoto State and commiserated with the government and the Sultan over the unwarranted killing of innocent citizens by perpetrators.
The governor, who condemned the recent spate of killings in Sokoto, said the government and people of Rivers State consider the dastardly activities of marauding bandits as barbaric.
Governor Wike stated this when he and the Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal, paid a courtesy call on His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, Sultan of Sokoto in his palace in Sokoto over the weekend.
The Rivers State governor expressed dismay over the wanton killing of innocent citizens by bandits in Sokoto and other parts of the country.
“We have had a long standing relationship and so, the people of Rivers State have told me to commiserate with you and people of Sokoto State. I’m sorry for what happened and we believe God will give the families that have lost their loved ones the courage, give them the strength to bear this unnecessary lost of lives.”
The governor, who was accompanied by a delegation of Rivers’ elders, also thanked the Sultan for the role he has been playing to ensure the stability of the country
He noted: “You’ve been trying to stabilise all the religious groups, all the ethnic groups, to understand we have no other country than our country call Nigeria. You have always spoken out irrespective of whether it touches on Muslims, whether it touches on Christians, or whether it touches on those who don’t have religion.