Ministry, oil firm partner on cleanup of N/Delta polluted areas

The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs (MNDA), Usani Uguru, has said they would support the Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC) on the cleanup of the polluted Niger Delta areas.

Usani who made this known yesterday when the new Managing Director of NigeriaNAOC, Mr Fiorillo Lorenzo visited the Minitry’s headquater with his team in Abuja said, scarcity of funds has been the problem behind the slow pace of remediation of polluted areas of the Niger Delta region.

He said the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari was not unaware of the urgent need to check the effects of pollution in the Niger Delta region but was constrained by other pressing demands of the country.

The minister called on the new MD, NAOC to make the clean-up of polluted areas in the Niger Delta region one of the priorities of his company.

The MD, NAOC, Mr Lorenzo said the visit was part of his familiarisation visit to development partners and stakeholders of the Niger Delta region on assumption of duty.  He promised not to renege on the efforts made by his predecessors to develop the region.

In his remarks, Minister of State for Niger Delta Affairs, Professor Claudius Omoleye Daramola,, urged the Managing Director to evolve ways of helping the Federal Government curb some of the challenges in the region.