AN estimated 1.5 million tons of crude oil has been spilled into the ecosystem of the Niger Delta in the last 50 years.
This disclosure was made by the Delta Committee Against Vandalism of Oil and Gas Facilities during a media briefing on Monday at the Government Annexe in Warri, Delta State.
The delta deputy governor, Mr. Kingsley Utuaro, who is also the chairman of the committee, added that unemployment was a major factor responsible for crude oil theft and vandalism in the region.
The committee, it will be recalled, was constituted by the Delta State government in 2016 to address the multifarious social and environmental challenges including vandalism of oil and gas installations.
The committee’s briefing was premised on the outcome of a two-day conference on securing oil and gas installations in Niger Delta (Phase Two) held between 10th and 11th in Ogulagha community, Burutu Local Area of Delta.
Utuaro, who read the communique of the two-day conference, with the theme “Sustaining Peace Building Potentials and Surveillance of Oil and Gas Assets through Community Engagement, noted that over 800, 000 barrels of crude oil was daily lost to vandalism.
“Only 10 percent of this is usually accessed by oil vandals while the remaining 90 percent is wasted on the environment resulting in irreversible damage to the ecology of the impacted areas.
“Vandalism of oil and gas installations is criminal and has continued to degrade existing pipeline infrastructure with a monumental loss to the economy of the host communities, State and the Nation.
“The host communities, oil companies, and government all have a responsibility in ensuring that the objective of minimising vandalism is achieved through intelligence sharing on criminal activities,” he said.
Utuaro who noted that a lot of aquatic life had been affected due to the oil spill, urged oil companies to provide trawlers and other modern fishing equipment to the locals whose means of livelihood had been negatively impacted.
He also urged oil companies to engage the host communities in securing the pipelines and other installations in their territories as well as obey the directive of the Vice-president, Prof Yemi Osinbajo to relocate their headquarters to the Niger Delta without further delay.
“No amount of force and deployment of Nigeria’s instrument of coercion can fully secure the oil and gas facilities,” Utuaro said.
Utuaro, however, appealed to the Federal Government to compel the oil multinationals to observe best practices both in their relationship with host communities and technical standards of their operations.
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