Communities in Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers State have raised an alarm over a fresh oil spill that spread all over their shoreline on December 13.
Community sources explained that the spill is suspected to be from an SPDC facility in Bonny Island spreading to the Oyorokoto/Agbama/Imo River and thereby impacting communities along the stretch of the river.
Another source suggests that the spill emanated from a pipeline rupture at a Shell loading terminal in Bonny.
The spill is huge as its impact is already felt over 40km from the incident site, and there are indications that due to wave action, the spill will spread to other communities along that coastline.
It will be recalled that a similar spill occurred in Shell’s Trans Niger Pipeline line III on May 11, in the Asarama community, Andoni LGA, Rivers State, polluting and contaminating the environment as well as fishing gear and destroying their means of livelihood, according to news report.
In a visit to the affected areas along the Oyorokoto/Agbama/Imo River, concerned stakeholders, including representatives from Andoni Host and Impacted Communities Bureau, the National Youth Council of Nigeria Andoni, among others, lamented their experience of the magnitude of the spill, and the immediate impacts they witnessed.
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They noted that the oil spill has damaged fishing nets, boats, and other equipment, rendering them unusable. The oil spill has contaminated the waterways, making it impossible for fishermen to engage in their daily livelihood. The oil spill has caused significant environmental damage, including the destruction of mangroves, fish habitats, and other marine life.
They urged the polluting company to quickly contain the spill to avoid further destruction and carry out cleanup and remediation as well as provide adequate compensation to the impacted community people.
According to Nnimmo Bassey, Director, Health of Mother Erath Foundation (HOMEF), these frequent spills are the harsh realities of community folks in the Niger Delta and in many cases, nothing is done as the communities are left to suffer. Most of the pipelines that criss-cross the Niger Delta are as old as when commercial export of crude oil started in Nigeria and a lot of these spills are coming from these old pipelines and in some other cases, equipment failure.
HOMEF has called on all relevant agencies to beam their search light on these oil companies to ensure that justice is served.
