Farah Dagogo, a member of the House of Representatives, has appealed to oil sector regulators to launch an investigation into the reasons behind the death of croaker fish along the Niger Delta coastlines.
Dagogo said a primary investigation he conducted on the cause of thousands of dead croaker fish washed ashore the ocean suggested that the oil multinationals may have discharged toxic substances into the sea.
There has been an uproar in the Niger Delta region following the discovery of thousands of dead croaker fish washed ashore the Atlantic Ocean across communities in Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, and Akwa Ibom states.
Dagogo, who represents Degema/Bonny Federal Constituency in Rivers State, said the region would only accept an unbiased probe devoid of cover-up from the regulators.
The lawmaker in a statement on Friday, May 1, 2020, signed by his special adviser, media, and publicity, Ibrahim Lawal, described the development as “colossal with calamitous consequences for the socio-economic lives of the citizens and affected states in the Niger Delta.”
Dagogo said: “The death of the fishes in our coastal waterways is colossal and has severe implications on the socio-economic development of our people in particular and the States of Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, and Delta in general.
“Their death may be as a consequence of pollution caused by the oil and gas companies operating in the region or other associated factors as noted by some environmentalists, or likely as a result of increasing toxicity of the Atlantic ocean, which the primary investigation I conducted indicates. And it can also be all of the aforementioned.
”Given the calamitous consequences, this strange incident portends, especially on the socio-economic lives of both the citizens and the affected Niger Delta states, I urge my constituents to be law-abiding and continue to maintain peace to allow for meaningfully engagements with the State Institutions and the Oil and Gas Companies, whose activities directly impact on the coastline.”
