Bayelsa – August 17 – (Viewpoint Housing News) – Chairman, Senate Committee on Ecology and Climate Change, Seriake Dickson on Wednesday in an event where he was conferred with “An Excellence In Environmental Leadership Award 2023”, called on the Nigerian government to urgently address the reckless environmental degradation in the country.
Senator Dickson, from Bayelsa State was honoured by the Global Initiative for Climate and Environmental Sustenance (GICES) for his contributions to the sustenance of a healthy environment when he was Governor of Bayelsa State.
He expressed concern over the mindless deforestation in the country and asked state governors to curtail the trend.
While hosting a coalition of 20 Non-Governmental Organizations with core values on environment, ecology and climate change at the Senate building in Abuja, he pleaded with the state governors to redouble their efforts to ensure the preservation of the environment in the interest of posterity.
“As the Chairman of the Senate Committee of Ecology and Climate Change, I will work with all NGOs in Nigeria, support the efforts of all institutions and bodies, to advance the cause of the environment, particularly to join the campaign against climate change.
“Nigeria’s response to climate change and support to communities devastated by climate change will see a marked difference by the time our Committee swings into action,” he said.
Receiving the award, he confirmed that the first hand information he got after assuming office as governor of the state, prompted his actions towards improving the conditions of the environment.
“I got tired of the environmental degradation I was saw in Bayelsa on daily basis, getting the reports and seeing first hand the effects on the communities on the livelihood of the people, he said.
“I empaneled this high profile international commission of inquiry made up of political leaders, world leaders, and experts, scientists of no mean repute drawn from around the world.
“I used my powers under the commission of inquiry, laws of Bayelsa state to impanel and commission them to do an in-depth, thorough, comprehensive investigation and report“.
“They went to communities, took samples of spill sites, even blood samples of people in Bayelsa state. You will be shocked at the findings, the amount of heavy metals that the people of Bayelsa, Niger Delta, and oil-bearing communities carry in their bodies.
“Heavy metals in their systems from polluted water that they drink, from the fish that is polluted that they consume, and so forth over the years”, he said.
Senator Dickson however expressed confident that the present government will continue from where he stopped.
