Twenty-seven communities in Delta State impacted by oil spillage stemming from the activities of the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company, Thursday visited the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, demanding the commencement of the second phase of the clean-up of their area in Warri South Local Government.

Their demands came on the heels of the flag off of the cleanup of Ogoni land.

A statement from the office of the SGF said Lawal informed them that the present administration pays serious attention to any community that has genuine complaint.

“He went on to say that, as theirs is an on-going project, the government will definitely classify it as one of its priorities and promised to do everything within the available resources to alleviate the suffering of the people even though such projects will still have to go through procurement procedures and that Ecological Funds are deployed subject to presidential approval,” the statement from the office of the SGF read.

Earlier, the spokesman of the group, Orugboh Emmanuel, said that Itsekiri Community has been denied their means of livelihood as a result of the unwholesome environmental practices of Warri Refining and Petro-Chemical Company Limited and all efforts to get the previous governments to complete the clean-up of the area failed and praised the present government for the prompt response to their request which was barely made a week ago.

Present at the meeting, were the Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Aisha Abubakar and some Permanent Secretaries.

•Sourced from BusinessDAY. Photo shows SGF Babachir Lawal.