Bayelsa State Government says it will soon set up an environmental guard to checkmate deforestation and other environmental infractions in the state.
Governor Douye Diri disclosed this during the celebration of this year’s World Environmental Day on Tuesday in Bayelsa.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the governor condemned the degradation of the environment through oil exploration and exploitation activities by international oil companies, illegal oil bunkering and other unhealthy environmental practices.
Diri said that the environmental guard would be known as ‘Bayelsa State Environmental Vanguard.’
Diri called for concerted efforts to preserve the environment, adding that “a healthy environment is fundamental to the survival of the people.”
He said: “Let me seize this medium to call on Bayelsans and its residents to individually and collectively ensure behavioural change.
“Take responsibility of watching over our environment. I put you all on notice to defend our environment. Degradation of the Bayelsa environment must come to an end.
“The fight to preserve the integrity of the environment is global. But in Bayelsa, let us localise it, own it, speak it and work it,” he said.
Diri directed the State Commissioner for the Environment to constitute a team for the establishment of a Bayelsa Environmental Vanguard, which would be saddled with the responsibility of ensuring a clean and healthy environment.
He also directed the ministry and the State Physical Planning Board to ensure that all development plans had green areas to mitigate the heat caused by climate change and global warming.
The governor called on oil companies, government officials and well-meaning individuals to collaborate with the government to achieve his administration’s policy of restoring the ecosystem.
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