Residents in distress over pipeline eruption in Ogoniland

Residents said they are in distress over the Trans Niger Pipeline which has erupted, spilling streams of crude oil through B-Dere community, Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State. The incident happened on May 6, and was said to be to be a result of equipment failure. It will be recalled that a similar explosion occurred in the Bodo community on March 17, this year which caused a massive fire that spread through the mangroves. 

A team of Civil Society Organisations (CSO) led by Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), on a visit to the spill site, met indigenes of the community who expressed the high level of pain and a sense of exposure and abandonment.

According to a statement from HOMEF, such spills show the risks communities will be exposed to if the desire of the Federal Government to resume oil extraction in Ogoniland happens. It added that many of the B-Dere community people have been internally displaced while those already impacted by the spill are living in fear over the health and safety.

ALSO READ FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE:  PDP labels Tinubu’s two years a ‘nightmare’

The woman leader of the community, Chief Mrs Augustina Biebie, stated that the level of restlessness in the community has only worsened. “The spill brought crude oil into houses of many of our people. The thick smell of crude oil has affected our health. Breathing has become a problem, and it has become difficult to even feed because some of us cannot light fires in our kitchens,” she said.

Pastor Kpobari Bani, whose house was affected, stated: “Since this incident started, I have not been able to cook for fear of explosion. My mother has been displaced and has moved to a neighbour’s house for fear of the explosion.” 

The Executive Director of Health of HOMEF, Dr Nnimmo Bassey, expressed disappointment over the level of neglect to communities. 

He said, “We are in a disaster zone and further disasters can erupt from even an accidental a spark of fire. The slow response of government and oil companies underscores the lack of care for the people and the environment. This level of laxity is absolutely unconscionable. The fact that this spill that happened a week ago is yet to be stopped sends a very strong point to why government should focus on cleaning up Ogoniland and not seek to open new oil wells. The old wells should be shut down, and decommissioned. Our communities must not continue to be sacrificed on the altar of petrodollars.” 

Bassey further called on all relevant authorities to move into action to curtail the spread of the flowing crude. 

“The government cannot be silent at a time as this.  This is a time when all agencies should be here to stop the pollution and carry out urgent clean up and remediation,” he said. 

Also, Celestine Akpobari, an environmental activist, stated that «This is one of the reasons why we have rejected the idea of restarting oil exploitation in Ogoni. The exploitation has not started, but the situation is becoming more volatile with spills of this nature. This is supposed to be a remediation site, but as you can see it is an ecological crime scene. We are afraid that if this is not properly contained, the damage will be far worse than what we see.»