In an apparent move to compel oil companies operating in the Niger-Delta to abide by all environmental regulations, the Senate yesterday said it had decided to enforce its past and future resolutions against oil spillage due to activities of the companies in the region.
The Senate passed some resolutions yesterday on the gory situations in the Niger-Delta, after an exhaustive debate of an interim report on its five-day retreat, which ended last Thursday in Port-Harcourt.
The debate by the Senators ended after the Senate Leader and Chairman of the Organising Committee of the retreat, Senator Teslim Folarin (Oyo Central), presented the interim report to the Senate and laid it on the table.
Folarin said the retreat provided an opportunity for senators to get first-hand information on problems in the region.
Contributors expressed dissatisfaction about the poor state of affairs in the Niger Delta and contended that the problem was worsened by failure of state governments in the region to channel their huge resources into infrastructure development.
But the Senate President, David Mark, assured that the Senate would come up with ways of making its resolutions binding on the oil companies.
He said,�I think one of the things we need to do is to enforce our resolutions. The issue is how do we ensure that our resolutions, especially on these oil companies in the Niger Delta, particularly to stop the spillage are binding?�, he queried.
He added that �this is one of the things we can do in the interim. But in the long term, I think we will legislate on the issues. So, in our resolutions tomorrow (today), we may give the companies a (time) limit within which the spillage should be stopped,� he said.
In his contribution to the debate, Senator Effiong Bob ( Akwa Ibom Northeast) suggested that the Senate should mandate its Committees on Niger Delta Affairs; Petroleum Matters (Upstream and Down Stream) and Environment and Ecology to urgently intensify their oversight functions in order to prevail on the authorities concerned to improve on their performances.
Senator Nicholas Ugbanne (Kogi East) lamented the inability of the State Legislatures in the Niger DeltaStates to confront their State Governors on the expenditure of the huge derivation funds channeled to them by the Federal Government.
He said that in the spirit of the concept of checks and balances, the State Legislatures ought to have checked the excesses of the executive arm of government in the States to avoid the unfortunate underdevelopments in the States.
Ugbane urged that all stakeholders must be consulted before the 13 per cent derivation fund is increased.
Senator Joy Emodi (Anambra North) lamented that the communities and people in the Niger Delta region, which produces more than eighty-five percent of the nation�s oil resources, was wallowing in deep-seated poverty.
She had suggested an increment in the 13 per cent derivation fund to the region during the forthcoming constitution amendment process.
Senator Anyim Udeh (Ebonyi) said it was necessary for the Senate to organize another retreat in the North and the Southeast so as to enable members appreciate the problems caused by desertification in the North and erosion in the Southeast before coming up with general solutions to �these nation-wide problems.