By Our Reporter
The Rivers State government is working with the Federal Government to resolve the issues surrounding the Ogoni Clean-up , Governor Siminalayi Fubara said yesterday.
He expressed happiness that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration is taking development of the area seriously.
Fubara made this known when he hosted the Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abbas Lawal and his Regional Development counterpart, Abubakar Momoh, in the Government House, Port Harcourt.
The governor said the government could only make the people of Ogoni happy after what they had gone through by returning meaningful development to the affected areas.
Narrating the sorry state of affairs of Ogoni, he said: “We all know the situation of Ogoniland. They have no good water, no farmland for agriculture anymore, their rivers are polluted and the fishes, if any remaining, are contaminated.
“The life expectancy in those places, in those days, they lived up to 100, but now when you get up to 25 and some 55 and you begin to thank God. This is so because the food we eat is contaminated, the water we take is also contaminated and affects the elements in our system.
“So, I am happy that this administration being led by the President, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is taking this issue of Ogoni seriously. Honestly we want to assure you here that as a government we will do everything within our powers to make sure that you succeed as a minister, who is overseeing this affairs now and also for our people to have a better life”.
But Fubara advised the Federal Government to go beyond inaugurating projects to ensuring that people and all stakeholders were involved in the entire process of development.
“They should have a buy-in and own what you are doing. How do they own it? It is not you sitting in Abuja, awarding the contract to somebody we don’t know. Much as I won’t support awarding it to someone,.who cannot deliver, but the community people should be part of the process, so that they have that sense of belonging.
“That sense of responsibility also gives sense of protection. If they believe that they are not part of it, issue of sabotage comes in. So I want to advise that going forward, whatever you are doing and whatever plans you have, let the people be part of it”, he said.
The governor also expressed happiness that the water project in the area had been concluded and ready for inauguration, adding that he was confident that the locals would take full charge of the project.
He said the state government representatives would attend the inauguration of the water project and hold meetings with all the stakeholders in the area to ensure its sustainability.
On power in Ogoni, the governor said that his administration paid for the metering of Eleme, Tai, Gokana and Khana including Andoni for ease of energy supply.
He said there was no way the area would develop without power, insisting that power was needed to operate machines and other facilities being installed in Ogoniland.
Replying, the UN Coordinator of SDG, said the improved health facilities in the state was made possible by the deliberate efforts of his administration to right the wrongs of the past government.
He said: “After our analysis, we found out that, health, outside the jamborees that we engaged in, the direct effect of healthcare was not felt in the state and we have to go all out to make sure that we do what is right. I believe that what you saw or what you are seeing in the recent report is because of our deliberate actions to make sure that we improve the state of our healthcare services in Rivers State.
“I can tell you that we have won several awards as performing state when it comes to the issue of health because we know that it is an important aspect. You need to be alive to work, and you need to be alive to be productive.
“We didn’t end just in the aspect of health, knowing that SDG has to do with poverty, healthcare, and education, which is also key. With education you also reduce the level of crime, because when a lot of people are educated they get positive engagements. These engagement in a way reduces at least 10% of those that are supposed to go into crime.
“So, we can assure you, the UN Coordinator that we are not ending it where we are today, in the next six months we might be inviting you to tour round what have been achieved. By the special grace of God in the next two weeks we shall be unveiling Bori Zonal Hospital.”