Yemisi Izuora
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has expressed its determination to adhere to sustainable environment practices in all its operations to safeguard biodiversity in the country.
Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, made this known Friday in Abuja in his keynote address as part of activities to commemorate the 2020 World Environment Day celebration with the theme ‘Biodiversity’.
Mallam Kyari said that the corporation would continue to be guided by sound environmental policies and standards so that the NNPC does not harm the environment and the communities of creatures within its sphere of operations.
“NNPC’s firm position on sustainable environmental practice is today reignited by the theme of the 2020 World Environment Day, which seeks to raise further awareness on conservation of Biodiversity. Biodiversity has remained the single most important factor that enables all living creatures to depend on the mutual services of one another in order to ensure survival, a balanced ecosystem and the sustainability of our planet,” Mallam Kyari stated.
He explained that the emergence of pandemics such as Novel Coronavirus, otherwise known as COVID-19, a virus that was said to be common to Asian bats, has provided greater insights on how biodiversity equilibrium can shift, making it easier for diseases to pass from animals to people.
Mallam Kyari decried that over the years, the world has been impacted by deforestation, expansion of agriculture, mining activities and massive infrastructural development, stressing that these activities have directly or indirectly impacted the balance of biodiversity, making wild species and alien organisms struggle to find new homes.