Reps move to address ocean surge threat to Delta communities

The House of Representatives has called for urgent release of funds by Ecological Fund Office to address threat of ocean surge to Ogheye-Egheroke and other coastal communities in Delta State.
The call was sequel to a unanimous adoption of a motion by Daniel Reyeneju on Tuesday at plenary.
In the motion, Reyeneju said that the funds would enable the Federal Ministry of Environment to commence Ogheye shoreline protection, whose design had been completed about five years ago.
He explained that Ogheye-Egheroke was a riverside oil community located at an elevation of one meter above sea level and predominantly inhabited by the Itsekiris and Ilajes.
According to him, the community is facing the threat of surge from the Atlantic Ocean, which is washing away the community that is one of the major oil producing areas in Delta.
The lawmaker said that the community played host to oil tank farms, export terminal, other oil facilities and was also a major fishing port along the Benin River coast line.
He blamed the threat on exploration activities of oil companies in and around the shoreline of the communities.
Reyeneju said that over two kilometres of the community’s land had been taken over by the Atlantic Ocean, submerging hundreds of houses and driving many people away from their ancestral homes.
He warned that if steps were not taken to provide basic infrastructure such as shoreline protection, to save lives and properties, the future of the community would remain bleak.
In his ruling, the Speaker of the house, Yakubu Dogara, mandated the Committee on Environment and Habitat to ensure compliance with the resolution and report back in six week.