Bayelsa Govt. seeks FG’s assistance on ravaging ecological challenges -

Bayelsa Govt. seeks FG’s assistance on ravaging ecological challenges - The Bayelsa Government has appealed to the Federal Ministry of Environment and other well-meaning organisations to join its efforts at combating ecological disasters ravaging the state. The disasters include landslide, coastal erosion and other environmental disasters. Chief John Jonah, Deputy Governor of Bayelsa made the appeal on Thursday while speaking with newsmen shortly after inspecting a landslide site at Okoloba Community in the Kolokuma/Opokuma local government area of the state. Lamenting the loss of houses and other valuable properties to the disaster, Jonah urged the Federal Government to participate more in the protection of the Bayelsa environment. He noted that the ecosystem in Bayelsa has suffered serious degradation owing to erosion and oil exploration activities. According to the deputy governor, several communities in the state, including Koluama, which had been washed away by ocean surge and coastal erosion are now in their new settlements. “There are lots of erosion sites in Bayelsa State; this is just one of them. We have been reporting about how the ocean surge has been washing off our communities including Koluama. “There is need for the Federal Ministry of Environment to look into Bayelsa case more seriously now with this wake-up call that we have got today. “We shall inform the Federal Government on the need for them to participate more effectively in the protection of our environment.” Jonah said. He sympathised with the victims, saying that government would do everything within its reach to provide them with some temporary relief, while proffering long-standing solutions to the problem. Jonah, however, used the opportunity to caution people of the state to be more safety conscious and take proactive measures by avoiding development of houses and other facilities in areas that are prone to natural disasters. On the issue of providing shoreline protection for the community, the deputy governor said: “I understand there is a record that, the government had planned to provide shore protection here. “We will look at that and see where the plan stalled and put pressure as much as we can to see that that project comes back to lime-light.” Giving eyewitness accounts, some of the victims who are indigenes of Okoloba community, Mr. Titus Yeigbagha and Chief Imomoemi Officer said, the incident occurred thrice at about 8am, 1pm and 6pm respectively on Monday. Yeigbagha, who lamented that property worth millions of naira, including six houses were wiped off by the slide, called on the government to come to the aid of the victims and the community by providing shoreline protection for the area. Also speaking, the Governor’s Special Representative in Kolokuma/Opokuma local government area, Mr Iselema Gbaranbiri recounted a similar incident that occurred in the community in 2008, 2013 and 2015 and appealed for the urgent attention of the government. The deputy governor was accompanied on the visit by the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Hon. Jonathan Obuebite, his Budget and Planning counterpart, Mr Joshua Ongore. Others are Chief of Staff, Government House, Mr Talford Ongolo and Chairman of the Bayelsa State Emergency Management Agency, (BYSEMA), Dr. Zedekiah Izu.