REPS PLEDGE SUPPORT FOR NOSDRA

By NBF News

By Hugo Odiogor
Members of the House Committee on Environment of the National Assembly have assured necessary support for the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) in effort to achieve its mandate in the area of oil spill management in Nigeria.

The assurance was given yesterday, when the committee, led by its Chairman, Mrs. Uche Ekwunife, paid a working visit to the Headquarters of NOSDRA in Abuja as part of its oversight functions.

Noting that NOSDRA was one of the key agencies of the Federal Ministry of Environment, whose activities were capital intensive, Ekwunife promised that the House Committee on Environment would consider how to make the agency more viable in terms of overcoming its problems and challenges.

She, however, implored NOSDRA to intensify efforts in sanctioning oil companies that pollute the environment.

She said this would not only help to deter such companies but would also help enhance the revenue base of the oil spill agency.

While charging NOSDRA to be alert at early detection of oil spill, she assured that the committee would assist in reviewing the Act of the agency in order to make it formidable in ensuring that oil companies that contaminate the environment paid for it.

She further asked the agency to intensify awareness and sensitization campaign on its response and remediation activities in order to assert its existence, especially in the light of overlapping of its functions by similar organizations.

Earlier in his address, the Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of NOSDRA, Sir Peter Idabor, had expressed gratitude for the visit of members of the House Committee on Environment, stressing that this would help members of the committee to understand the activities of the agency, as well as the problems and challenges.