Success Nwogu 
Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, has demanded from international oil companies (IOCs) $12 billion over 12 years for the repairs, remediation and restoration of the Bayelsa State environment and public health damage.
He stated that the damages were caused by oil and gas exploration. He also said the fund was to lay the foundations for Bayelsa’ just transition towards energy and opportunities for alternative livelihood.
He called on his counterpart in the Niger Delta to forge an alliance for environmental justice to check the grave impact of environmental pollution on the region. Diri spoke at the International Oil Pollution and Just Transition Conference in Abuja.
Recall that Diri had met with the Secretary-General of the Common Wealth, Barronnes Patricia Scotland in London. He called on the Commonwealth to intervene in prevailing on IOCs to take responsibility for the pollution caused on the environment in many decades of oil exploration in the state.
The governor warned that the state government would adopt legal action if all efforts to get the compliance of the IOCs failed.
He decried that the IOCs had failed to implement the recommendations of a report commissioned by the state government, that recommended $12 billion for the remediation and restoration of degraded lands and Iivelihoods of the people in the state.
