By Celestine Okafor (Editor-in-Chief)
An Environmental and Civil Rights NGO, Spaces For Youth Development and Social Change/S4C, has strongly condemned the recent oil spills which occurred in Opu Nembe Community at the southern field of Sant Barbara in Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
The oil spills, according to reports, were allegedly caused by oil leakages from crude pipelines owned by Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production Company Limited (AITEO). The spill was said to have resulted in an inferno that started on Friday, November 5, 2021, destroying traditional livelihoods, crops, and economic trees; contaminating water and food sources, and killing all sorts of aquatic creatures.
According to a statement on Friday by the Executive Director of Spaces For Change/S4C, Barrister Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri, reports reaching the NGO show that the fire has not yet been put out and is still ravaging the community for more than 20 days. Beyond the massive economic losses, the statement said people of the Opu Nembe community have suffered incalculable damage to their physical, social, and cultural environments.
SPACES FOR CHANGE/S4C, Ibezim-Ohaeri said in the statement, strongly condemns "this resurgence of environmental irresponsibility by oil corporations operating in the Niger-Delta region of Nigeria".
She stated that Eyewitnesses told the NGO that "the spillage started on November 5, 2021, without AITEO Limited taking concrete steps to stop the inferno. Whatever steps, if any, are taken remain ineffective as the inferno and the massive oil spills gushing out of AITEO’s facilities remain unrestrained to date.
"Residents lament that water from the local streams heavily coated with crude oil is neither usable nor drinkable. Fishing nets, boats, and other hunting wares worth several millions of Naira have been damaged beyond repair.
"The incident is an unfortunate replay of the laisser-faire attitude of oil corporations where petro-powered profits come first before the life and wellbeing of local communities. Oil corporations like AITEO can brazenly leave oil spills and the accompanying inferno uncontrolled for several days because of the weak and extremely lax regulatory environment in the country where accountability for environmental injustices lag behind".
SPACES FOR CHANGE/S4C, therefore, contends that AITEO’s handling of the spill in Opu Nembe community "not only constitutes a dereliction of corporate responsibility but also violates the Opu Nembe’s peoples’ right to development, dignity and clean environment as guaranteed in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and a host of international human rights instruments which Nigeria has ratified".
The NGO promptly demands that AITEO immediately begins the process of remediation of the environment in the Opu Nembe community. It charged the appropriate regulatory agencies to ensure that AITEO applies international best practices in the land remediation exercises.
"In addition to a swift clean-up, AITEO should take immediate steps to compensate people whose properties and livelihoods have been gravely affected by the inferno. Last but not least, the investigation into the cause of the spill must be made open to members of the public without distortion or interference as has always been the practice of oil multinationals", Ibezim-Ohaeri insists in the statement. NNL.
