13 February 2009
(Page 2 of 2)
There is a Ukrainian firm that is taking over waste management in Rivers state. The sewage treatment plant we are building is going to be built by a German firm. We have Julius Berger [an international construction company] in Port Harcourt. We have an Indian firm that just took over water about four days before I arrived.
About the environmental concerns: what are some of the things you can do to try to address the oil spills and gas flares and their consequences?
A state governor is limited. Things associated with oil are on the federal list so you may not have power to anything in that regard. The constitution says that where there is conflict the federal law will override the state law.
But that does not mean we are ignoring the environment - absolutely not. We have a ministry of environment that looks at the different standards by which companies are allowed to operate. From time to time they've caused a meeting to happen between Shell and the state government. For instance, we took the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to court over a community where if you take a shovel and excavate the soil you will see oil coming out. That community is quite close to the refinery that belongs to the company. So we believe it is as a result of the refining of the crude in that place – they can't even drink water. We are supplying them water from Port Harcourt. [The case] is still pending. We did that because we had met with them, we had sent for them, but they were being a bit [difficult] about it so we went to court.
Are you having disruptions in oil production in your state?
It used to happen, but in the past six or seven months, no, because we took care of that. Remember, I talked about the implementation of the law. So we took that very seriously. And in most of the Delta states, we've been able to reduce it. I say the word "reduce" not because there have been any acts of disruption but because the oil companies don't believe. They have to get back their confidence that what they are seeing is permanent. So if anyone tells you that these criminal activities are affecting oil production the person is not 100 percent correct. What one should rather say is that it is affecting investment from other parts of the world because of the criminal kidnapping.
And how are you producing your power?
Currently we are sharing between what we are producing through gas turbines and what the federal government can give through the Power Holding Company of Nigeria. But we believe… we will be able to produce up to 300 or 325 megawatts of power – all gas. It's a cheaper source of energy, and cleaner. By June we will be the first state likely to be self-sufficient in power. And that is essential to kick start economic development.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 allAfrica.com. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
