Less than two months after a major crude oil spill occurred at Bukuma in Degema Local Government Area of Rivers State, another spill has been recorded at Ogale in Eleme Local Government Area of the state. The spills have impacted communities, Rivers and farmlands in four out of the 23 local government areas of the state.
The latest spill occurred at a manifold operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited during maintenance work on the manifold. The spill, according to witnesses, first filled collection pits around the manifold before overflowing into the surrounding farmlands and vegetation.
The site is located at a short distance from Lot-1 site, an area that the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) had carried out remediation work a few years ago to clear the land of the damage done by previous oil spills in the area.
Shell, the owners of the facilities, were yet to respond to the development but some people in the area said the leakage might have been due to equipment failure at the site.
Fyneface Dumnamene of Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre called for a Joint Investigation Visit to the site by Shell, the community and the National Oils Spill Detection and Response Agency to determine the cause of the spill and initiate moves to stop it.
The President of Eleme Youth Council, Walter Olaka, had mobilised youths to cordon off the area and moved trucks into which people were scooping the oil at the site to the local government headquarters.
Olaka said the spill had already entered into farmlands and could jeopardise harvests of cassava, which were now due.
Less than two months ago, the Oil Wellhead 008 in Bukuma in Degema Local Government Area also in Rivers State had a blowout and spewed crude oil over a vast area of land and water along the New Calabar River. At some point, the wellhead caught fire, which spread to over a thousand hectares of land in Bukuma and destroyed farmlands and settlements in its wake.
The oil spill which is yet to be stopped has continued to flow into the surrounding rivers and creeks, impacting the land and fishing activities in communities in Degema, Asari Toru and Emohua Local Government Areas. Communities now impacted include Buguma, Ido, Tombia, Ogbakiri, Bakana and Daily Bread. Fishermen have been forced to stop fishing on the river and creeks because the crude oil had soaked their nets and caused the death of fish and sea life.
The spill has added to the disturbing spate of environmental pollution in Rivers State arising from pipeline failures and vandalism by oil thieves.
Now, this may further hamper oil exploration in the Niger Delta region. Shortly before the latest spill, the government appeared to be making progress in its effort to get people in the region to agree to increase oil exploration and better revenue for the federal government. President Bola Tinubu on Monday gave assent to a bill establishing the Federal University of Environmental Technology, Ogoni. This was believed to be part of government’s efforts to appease Ogoni people so that they can accept the resumption of crude oil production in the area. There are fears that whatever progress that may have been made could be hampered by the spillage in Eleme, coming shortly after that of Buguma within the same state.
