Bayelsa, Delta communities threaten to halt crude export

Bayelsa, Delta communities threaten to halt crude export 

The people of Agge and other neighbouring communities on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, Ramos River and its estuaries in Bayelsa and Delta states have threatened to halt crude oil export from the area over devastation of crude oil spillages the facilities of a local oil firm in the area.

It was learnt that the aggrieved Ijaw people are unhappy at the slow pace of the company’s handling of the issue of compensation resulting from two incidents of crude oil spills from the facilities of Sterling Oil Exploration & Energy Production Company.

They threatened to shut down SEEPCO’s facility unless the compensation is properly and urgently handled by the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), the lead agency in crude oil spill matters.

The Chairman of Agge and its Federated Communities, Mr Stephen Fiyepade who led the community leaders and representative of the traditional council to NOSDRA’s Warri Zonal office on Monday, lamented that his people lost their sources of livelihood to the incidents.

He said, “It is regrettable that after damaging our fishing materials and sources of livelihood through consistent pollution and spills from SEEPCO operations, the company has refused to pay compensation to our people.”

Fiyepade called on NOSDRA to facilitate the payment of compensation so that people of Agge and its environs can recover from huge losses and get their lives back on track.

In his reaction, Chief David Omaghomi, the Government and Community Affairs Manager - Marine Operations for Sterling Oil blamed the delay on bureaucracy and urged NOSDRA to expedite the process.

He said, "We have further gone through the mandatory reporting, clean-up and remediation of the Impacted sites, provision of relief materials and free medical screening exercise stages under the guidance of all concerned government bodies.”

 “While (we) commend NOSDRA for their professional handling of the incidences, we urge the agency to expedite action for an early close-out of this matter. We likewise wish to appeal to the communities to exercise patience and allow due process to be followed, as NOSDRA remains the only arm of Government with the exclusive powers and jurisdiction to handle all oil spill related issues in Nigeria.

The Zonal Director of NOSDRA, Warri - Mr. Bunmi Akindele who presided over the meeting, also appealed to the people of Agge and their neighbouring communities to exercise patience, promising that the agency is seriously addressing the issue.