The Ijaw Nation has said that its people and its environment are gradually going extinct due to the environmental degradation experienced as one of the negative impact of oil and gas exploration in Ijaw communities.
The Ijaw National Congress said this in a communique at the end of a two-day stakeholders’ workshop in Warri, Delta State, where delegates from 78 Ijaw clans across Nigeria converged under the umbrella of Ijaw National Congress, INC.
The communique read “The environment remains the most valuable physical resource for development and survival of the Ijaw nation.
“Summit resolved that urgent steps be taken to implement the UNEP report on Ogoni and clean up other degraded communities.”
INC recommended that communities bearing resources should control their resources and pay taxes to the government.
INC added that “Violence or restiveness is a new phenomenon foisted on the Ijaw by circumstances of oppression and frustration including militarization of Ijaw territory.”