Abp. John Sentamu of York has agreed to serve as chairman of the Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission in Nigeria, which will study the human and environmental effects of oil companies.
An estimated 400 million liters of oil spill into the Niger Delta each year.
Seriake Henry Dickson, state governor, said the commission “is crucial to the prosperous future of the people of Bayelsa and their environment, Nigeria, and, hopefully, to other oil-producing nations.” It will seek a new global standard of behavior for the oil industry.
Sentamu formerly served as a high-court judge in Uganda. After sentencing a member of dictator Idi Amin’s family, Sentamu left the country.
Sentamu told the BBC World Service: “We are trying to increase the pressure on multinational companies to operate at the same legal and moral responsibility in this state, as we expect in the United Kingdom, the United States, and in Norway.”
John Martin
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
