Yet another deadly oil spill in Bayelsa
Another devastating oil spill wreaked havoc in the quiet Kalaba community situated between Ayamabele and Ikarama communities, along the Taylor Creek of the Okordia axis in Bayelsa state last weekend. The people of the area in no small measure have witnessed damaging crude oil spills in recent time, with their environment polluted due to the […]
Another devastating oil spill wreaked havoc in the quiet Kalaba community situated between Ayamabele and Ikarama communities, along the Taylor Creek of the Okordia axis in Bayelsa state last weekend. The people of the area in no small measure have witnessed damaging crude oil spills in recent time, with their environment polluted due to the activities of several oil companies.
Three new oil spills ware reported to have occurred again, bringing the total to four major spills witnessed within a space of three weeks from oil major, Nigeria Agip Oil Company’s (NAOC) pipeline.
Weekly Trust gathered that the latest spills were noticed on Friday, September 17th, 2011, barely five days after Agip cleaned the spill point that occurred earlier in the month. The clearing of the earlier spill point took place on September, 11, 2011 and the three new spills which were said to have occurred last Friday were confirmed by Environmental Rights Action and Friends of the Earth (ERA/FoEN).
According to the Head Chief of the community, Chief Idoniboye Nwalia: “I just heard of the three spills again, after Agip came to clean-up the one that occurred earlier in the month. This is not a good thing. I think it would be better if Agip respond quickly to these incidents because, as you must have observed, crude oil is flowing into a nearby body of water.”
Reacting, Morris Alagoa of ERA/FoEN has said that the substance spewing into the environment looks very much like semi-refined crude, noting that it appear silvery in colour on top of the water, unlike the black and bronze colours that crude oil normally displays. “Another important observation was the fact that the spills occurred on both the old and newly laid pipelines. All the spill points were bubbling and the content from the oil bearing pipelines were freely spreading in the environment, flowing to lower levels according to the topography,” Alagoa told Weekly Trust.
Only two weeks ago, Agip was accused of a major spill, with Agip responsible for the woes that have befallen farms, farmland, fish ponds and community waterfronts in the area. A serious leakage, characterized by crude oil spreading in gaseous and liquid form which engulfed the atmosphere of the environment in an utmost terrific measure. In the past, several oil spills and gas leakages have threatened the lives of the residents in the area, but not as bad as the most recent and the occurrence of about three months after Agip laid a new pipeline last year.
Paramount Ruler of the community, Chief Idoniboye Nwalia said there was no loss of lives but the devastation of farmland and water was quite enormous. Yet, Agip has not made any move to negotiate terms of compensation with affected people.
Describing the extent to which the spill occurred, Nwalia said: “We can see the spraying of the crude oil into the air right from this road. Yes, from this main road if you stand at the section of the pipeline you will see it spraying into the air. For now we don’t know the cause of this spill.”
Roman Orukali , the immediate-past Chairman of the Community Development attested to the fact that the cause and time of the spillage was unknown to them. “The date the spill began is not clear, but a woman said she noticed something like that last week.”
The community’s woman Leader, Mrs. Joe Ovie noted that as farmers and fishing folk, they were going about their various activities when they heard a loud sound, like an explosion. “I decided to avoid passing through that section of the pipeline when I noticed that it was an oil spill because from the roaring sound alone one would know that it was a serious matter. We pray that this time Agip will respond promptly before so much damage is done to our crops, farmlands and bodies of water around. Besides, it was this kind of incident that led to fire that burnt a woman from this community few years ago, because she was going to her farm with live charcoal without any knowledge that such thing was leaking from Agip pipeline.”
Morris Alagoa led a team that included executives of the Environmental Rights Action (ERA) and Friends of the Earth (FoEN) and testified that during his on-the-spot visit to ascertain the extent of damage, the thick gaseous substance spraying into the air was noticed. The distance from the main road to the spill site was about 800 meters. Soon after entering the pipeline right of way, the sound of escaping crude oil became audible.
Beside the fumes in the air, pools of crude oil could be noticed around the environment. The soil around the immediate spill points have been washed away and settled not too far from the spot like sludge. Vegetation on the left side has wilted and the wind was carrying the substance to the right hand side opposite the wilted plants.
Experts viewed the extent of damage caused by the spill as having a very serious repercussion on the land and the people in the near future. Dr. Brisibe Nabena, an oil expert told Weekly Trust that apart from the land degradation, the health of the inhabitants of the land was at risk from cancer, kidney and heart failure. He warned that issue of this nature must be taken very seriously and addressed due to the grave danger it poses.