Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike has called on the President Muhammad Buhari administration to remember to fund the environmental disaster in the South South even as it procured $1 billion to fight Boko Haram.
Speaking at the Annual General Meeting of Okpo Club of Nigeria (Association of Ikwerre Lawyers) yesterday in Port Harcourt, Wike did not condemn the release of the funds for Boko Haram but said the environmental problems in the Niger Delta far outweighed the Boko Haram crisis.
He requested the APC, Federal Government to release the derivation component of the Excess Crude to the oil producing states of the Niger Delta.
He said: “Niger Delta environmental problems are as serious as the Boko Haram Insurgency. I am not saying that you should not fight Boko Haram.
“If you can get funds from the national pool to tackle Boko Haram, then you should go to the pool to get funds to fight environmental problems in Ogoni and other Niger Delta communities.”