SERAP TO SUE FG OVER UNEP REPORT ON OGONILAND

LAGOS-A group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, has said it will drag the Federal Government before the ECOWAS Court over the recent United Nations Environment Progra-mme, UNEP, findings on the environmental assessment of Ogoniland.

The group said the report was in support of its case on the complicity of the government in oil pollution and the resulting violations of the human rights of the people of the area.

SERAP's Executive Director, Mr. Adetokunbo Mumuni, who spoke in Lagos, said the group had initially challenged the Federal Government but was rebuffed. He added that it was not every inch of the land in the Niger Delta that has oil, hence poverty level in such places should not be attributed to lawful oil exploration in the region, and by extension, failure of government.

Mumuni said: 'The UNEP report clearly contradicts the arguments put forward by the government before the ECOWAS Court. We shall be filing soon on the UNEP report before the ECOWAS Court in support of our case on the complicity of the government in oil pollution and the resulting violations of the human rights of the people.'