By Wandoo Sombo
Abuja – The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has assured the Niger Delta region that it will conclude investigation into alleged environmental pollution and human right abuses in the areas.
The Acting Executive Secretary of the commission, Mrs Oti Ovrawah, gave this assurance in Abuja on Wednesday when the Akwa Ibom Oil Producing Community Development Network (AKIPCON) and the Niger Delta Consolidated Forum (NDCF), led by Mr Ufot Phenson, visited her.
Ovrawah said that the commission had not given up its quest to ensure that the environmental rights of people living in the region were protected.
However, the acting executive secretary maintained that the commission was always careful not to interfere in any matter that was before the court.
According to her, “we want to wait for the outcome of the cases in court’’.
Mr Abdulrahman Yakubu, Director, Protection and Investigation in the commission, also assured the delegation that NHRC would do everything within its mandate to ensure that the investigation was concluded.
He said this was necessary in order to have a safe and clean environment that would sustain lives and means of livelihood of the people of the region.
Earlier, Phenson who is the President General of AKIPCON, commended the efforts of the NHRC for inaugurating the Special Investigation Panel on Oil Spill and Environmental Degradation.
He noted that the committee had held four successful sittings before it was interrupted by some oil and gas companies through court processes.
Phenson explained that both the NDCF and AKIPCON in the past 10 years had been at the forefront of ensuring adequate compensation for losses suffered from hazardous effects of hydrocarbon pollutions caused by activities of oil and gas companies in the region.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Nigerian Petroleum Development Corporation (NPDC) had in 2016, obtained an ex parte order from the Federal High Court, Abuja, to stop the NHRC from continuing its investigation into oil spillage in the country.
The court had ordered the commission to suspend its investigation pending the determination of the substantive suit.