Oil spill damages crops, fish farms in Bayelsa

The farmers faulted the joint investigation visit to probe the cause and impact of the spill, saying their farms were not considered by the team.The farmers, comprising banana and plantain plantation owners and fish pond operators, appealed to Bayelsa State government to prevail on the oil firm to clean the areas and indemnify them for […]

The farmers faulted the joint investigation visit to probe the cause and impact of the spill, saying their farms were not considered by the team.
The farmers, comprising banana and plantain plantation owners and fish pond operators, appealed to Bayelsa State government to prevail on the oil firm to clean the areas and indemnify them for their losses.
According to Mr. Florence Ako who owns a plantain plantation opposite the Kolo Creek manifold, the crude oil which gushed from the manifold under high pressure, spread into her farm and damaged the crops.
She said: “The damage caused by the oil on our farmlands are visible for all to see and this is happening so close to harvest time. Look at the fruits, the oil that spread on the fruits have condemned them, nobody can eat anything from it.
“It is from on farm that me and my husband depend to feed and train our children in the school and my husband’s farm was equally impacted at the other side.
“Unfortunately, the joint investigative team that visited did not come to this side and we came around to show them our farms but they did not listen to us and eventually they left.
“So, as we speak, the officials that assessed the spill impacted areas have excluded our farmlands, abandoned the oil residues and there is no oil recovery and clean up going on here.”
Mrs Ako’s husband, Olei Ako, said that his farm consisted of banana and plantain plantations have not been captured by the investigation team.
He said that the affected farmers have reported their plight to the Bayelsa State Ministry of Environment to ensure that their farmlands were cleaned and remediated.
In the same vein, Mr Badigigha Igbodo said his family’s fish pond and several others were contaminated by the crude spill which wiped out the fish stock and left the ponds floating with dead fish.
He said that the spill has destroyed the means of economic sustenance of more than 50 farmers who were still counting their losses.
According to him, the affected farmers believed that the spill was traceable to operational failure on the part of the oil firm, due to lapse created by the surveillance staff guarding the facility.
He added: “We are told Shell said the spill was caused by sabotage. But it is, rather, their negligence because the facility is a well secured area and they should take responsibility for the security lapse that allowed this to happen.
“This was the view of the community representatives but Shell officials imposed their own views and came out with the report excluding our farms.”
However, Mr. Iniruo Wills, Commissioner for Environment, Bayelsa State, said that government would verify the reported exclusion of impacted sites. In an interview, he said: “We have to look at the information and verify it and if it is true that the impacted area was larger than what was originally captured, we shall find a way of addressing these concerns.
“All parties have a duty to make sure that they are included, nobody can hide under the cover of technicalities to say that a fact that is reality will not be captured.
“We have to look at it and address it, one way or the other, even if it means paying another visit, another JIV to expand the scope. We cannot leave those people outside the net of justice.”