Attacks on pipeline are affecting women, children – Ita-Giwa begs Niger Delta militants

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Attacks on pipeline are affecting women, children – Ita-Giwa begs Niger Delta militants

Former Presidential Adviser on National Assembly Matters, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa, has appealed to militants in the Niger Delta region to embrace dialogue as a panacea to the crises bedeviling the region.

In a statement she released on Monday, the political leader of the Bakassi people stressed that only dialogue can cushion the effect of pipeline vandalism on women, the elderly and children of the oil rich region.

Ita-Giwa noted that pipeline vandalism in the region is also increasing the threat of climate change and of course, women and children are particularly the most vulnerable to the impact of climate change.

The statement reads in part, ”As a mother and leader from the Niger Delta, I am appealing to my people to embrace dialogue as a way of ending the restiveness in the region.

“The increasing number of mortality rate is alarming as we are losing pregnant women, children on daily basis due to environmental pollution compounded by environmental degradation from burst pipelines.

“I am also calling on government to ensure the protection of the lives of the people who are already suffering from untold hardships.”

This is coming at a time when a National Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, had described militant groups behind the recent attacks on oil and gas installations across the region as criminals and enemies of the Niger Delta people.