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Lagos, Nigeria – Members of the Nigerian Nembe community have taken to the streets of Yenagoa, the state capital of Bayelsa, to demand measures to prevent oil and gas spills from the wellhead that has been affecting its residents for more than a month.
Dozens of crude oil and natural gas have been flowing into nearby fishing settlements since early November, on the Nembe coast and on the Santa Barbara River, before flowing into the Niger Ocean across the Niger Delta. The tides have reportedly spread the impact of the spill to nearby communities in Rivers State.
The cause of the leak on the OML 29 Well 1 platform – the largest Nigerian oil company, Aiteo Eastern E&P, which took over the Santa Barbara well at Royal Dutch Shell in 2015 – is still being investigated. This has been done by activists mentioned in the local media describe the event was the biggest oil spill in the history of the Nigerian oil industry.
“We want the world to hear our cry that we are on the verge of extinction,” said Allen Jonah, Nembe Se, the secretary of Congress, a patriotic group leading Monday’s protest outside the Yenago Press Center.
“Let the international community not stand still and see that what is happening will calm itself down.”
The federal government of Nigeria, through the State National Nigerian Petroleum Corporation, owns a majority stake in joint ventures with oil companies operating in the country and is responsible for conducting day-to-day operations.
Since the 1970s, the oil-rich Niger Delta region has enjoyed a huge majority of Nigeria’s profits, making the country the largest oil producer in Africa.
But the region continues to suffer from the multiplier effect of decades of environmental degradation, eroding livelihoods and providing basic necessities to residents, such as access to clean drinking water. The surrounding mangroves and marshes have become uninhabitable for many species and the average human life expectancy is also 10 years lower than in other parts of the Nigerian Delta.
According to the Nigerian Ministry of Environment, approximately 5,000 cases of oil spills have been documented in the last six years. But the latest incident, which activists say has lasted more than 35 days, shocked industry activists.
Deputy Environment Minister Sharon Ikeazor compared the pollution scene in Japan to the atomic bombing of World War II in Hiroshima and called for a review of the law that protects the national agency for detecting and responding to oil spills to impose tougher sanctions on oil companies. After visiting the scene in late November, state Governor Douye Diri compared it to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico incident, believed to be the largest offshore oil spill in history.
Father says the cleaning operation is underway.
In a statement on Nov. 24, the company said it had deployed two 1,000-ton ramps and other equipment to help clean up the spills.
Last month, Andrew Oru, also a director of Aiteo’s asset protection and community affairs esana journalists “this particular event has not created much crude oil in the environment and crude oil is easily contained.”
He also warned that sabotage might be at stake, saying that Father was “particularly suspicious” of what might have happened to the wellhead.
But industry experts call for an independent study and say the size of the leak is much larger than proposed.
I am currently in Bayelsan and I am appalled by the levels of environmental degradation in Nembe.
AITEO oil spill has devastated this river. #Savebayelsa pic.twitter.com/jsK1ShYjWY
– $ Hydra ????️???? (@TheBriDen) December 7, 2021
Alagoa Morris, head of the Yenagoa-based project at Environmental Rights Action & Friends of the Earth Nigeria, said the federal government’s action, “the lion’s share of the joint venture agreement”, was missing and called on other industry players to get involved. and help stop the spill.
“They are [Aiteo] they don’t have the skills and that has pushed them to come to the site with their machines and get other organizations that have been fighting for the last four or five days, but it hasn’t stopped, ”Morris said, directing in late November. a search group to talk to local residents and security officials.
They have planned another visit for the coming days, he added.
Meanwhile, protesters in Yenago called on both Aiteo and the government to address the current state of emergency and to make a greater impact on the lives of residents in the long run.
“We are fishermen by nature [and] that river is what we survive; the mangroves are a great source of marine resources, ”said Jonas.
Al Jazeera contacted Aiteo to request comments, but received no response to the post.
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