By Nneka Nwogwugwu
The Director-General of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), Mr Idris Musa, has given reasons for recent oil spills in the Niger Delta region while enlisting the responses of the agency.
The DG stated this in an exclusive interview with NatureNews on Thursday, March 31st.
Oil spills in the Nigeria began since the exploration of oil and since then, they have been an increasing number of spillage cases which prompted the establishment of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) in 2006 as an institutional framework responsible for monitoring and responding to oil spills in Nigeria.
Most recently, were the spills that have occurred in Bayelsa, Rivers and Delta states in the past four months.
NOSDRA’s Director General, informed that ‘’Between 2015 and January, 2022 in Bayelsa state, we have recorded 1086 oil spills and out of the 1086 oil spills, 917 were as a result of vandalism which is also what we call sabotage or third party interference.’’
Musa, explaining reasons for frequent occurrences of oil spill, noted that out of every four spills, one will be equipment failure while the remaining three will be as a result of sabotage or vandalism.
Citing the oil spill that occurred in November on the Santa Barbara wellhead operated by the Aiteo Eastern Exploration and production company, Musa reiterated that the cause of the oil spill was as a result of vandalism.
NatureNews recalls that the Bayelsa state government had set up a committee to identify what may be the cause of the oil spill. The committee resolved that the cause was as a result of equipment failure.
Clarifying on the position of NOSDRA, the DG noted during the interview that ‘’it is still early to presuppose that the cause of the spill is as a result of equipment failure neither could we say that it is sabotage until we are able to get close enough, after the spill is stopped before we can arrive at any solution.
‘’Indeed we also got tough with the Bayelsa state ministry of environment and the commissioner for Environment.
‘’We proposed for an on-the-spot assessment with the commissioner but the commissioner said the place is still not conducive for him to go since there are still tendencies that the place may still be engulfed by fire. We replied him that all of his concerns have been taking care of.
‘’He later informed us that the state government had an important meeting which they had to attend but the outcome of the meeting was that, the Bayelsa state government set up an 11-member committee to look into what would have been responsible for the spillage.
‘’Members of the community, NOSDRA, the oil company and state ministry of environment were all members of this committee but when you look at this, the number of persons in the committee were too much.
‘’We suggested to the state Attorney general to reduce the number and he agreed that the 11 members may not go for the Joint investigation Visit. We asked that three persons should be taken from the committee to visit the site. He agreed, also urging that two other persons should be added as observers but these observers will not get to the point of investigation.
‘’For the avoidance of doubt, the people sent for the investigation are people with requisite experience led by the Director, Oilfield Assessment. We went to this JIV with the media and they all looked at it and found out that it was as a result of vandalism.
‘’But because of predetermined opinion, they insisted that it was as a result of equipment failure. What we do at NOSDRA is to do a scientific work and vandalism is the cause of the oil spills which is the same position of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulation Commission and Aiteo but the community refused.
‘’By law, when there is any oil spill as a result of vandalism there will be clean up but the community will not be given compensation and this is the bone of contention.’’
Speaking on the outcome of the Joint Investigation Visit done, the NOSDRA boss, said, ‘’We did a JIV that comprise the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulation Commission, Bayelsa government, communities and Aiteo. The Bayelsa state government was there and hey held on to their views that it was equipment failure but we told them that from our investigations, what we see is third party interference.
‘’The regulatory agencies from government also held the same position with ours but the Attorney General of Bayelsa disputed the outcome of the JIV and we have also responded accordingly to the letter sent to us.
‘’For us, the next thing we are to do is for the oil company to fill up any outstanding issue and then we do post fill impact assessment. For now, we can’t do damage assessment because it is done towards compensation and we don’t pay for criminality. For the outcome from the government, we don’t know what the committee may be doing thereafter.’’
Also, giving updates on the number of oil spills that have occurred in March, 2022, the NOSDRA boss said, ‘’In the month of March, from Warri zonal office, Yenegoa and Port Harcourt field office, we have recorded 90 oil spill incidences. The occurrence of this has been on for quite some time and we try to see how we can educate and carry out environmental campaigns to host communities to ensure that nobody tampers with their oil facilities because when it is tampered, they will be the ones to bear the brunt.’’
Speaking on why communities raise alarm on oil spill events despite contributing to some of them, he said, ‘’The oil companies in various ways have a way they render one form of Corporate social responsibility to the communities. They operate on Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) or Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMOU) and I know for sure that sometime in 2021, the Bayelsa state government revoked all MoUs or GMoUs that existed between oil companies and host communities. The state government resolved to institute another means to serve their people better but we haven’t heard any results from it. But because of the fact that host communities believe that oil companies don’t do enough, they begin to engage into what we call venting of anger. Venting of anger in a way that you destroy or sabotage oil facilities but end up impacting negatively to their environment.’’
He noted that the companies provide employment and other basic amenities to the communities through Corporate Social Responsibility.
Speaking on ensuring improved security on the oil facilities, he urged the Oil companies to increase their surveillance activities in order to reduce cases of vandalism.
He said, ‘’ If it is just equipment failure, that one is easy to run after and we recommend that you change that pipeline or do proper clean up or replace the pipeline. But how do you mange vandals that break pipelines to steal oil often? How many can you chase? There’s a sudden upsurge in oil theft to the extent that President Muhammadu Buhari has requested Service Chiefs to go to the Niger Delta to see how the rampant oil theft can be stopped.
‘’When they steal, they leave it to flow till the communities become aware and raise alarm. Those are the complexities that are in the business. Anybody who needs to report on oil spillage needs to be very informed on it.
Highlighting the process of NOSDRA’s intervention for oil spill, the DG said, ‘’We have NOSDRA establishment Act and we also have regulations 25/26. When an oil spill occurs, by law there is the need for the oil company involved to report within 24 hours to the nearest zonal agencies or headquarters.
A Joint Investigative Visit (JIV) must (by law) be carried out as soon as possible after a spill has been identified and containment measures taken. The Joint Investigative Visit is where the oil company representatives, community representatives, and appropriate government agencies visit the oil spill site to agree on the cause, impact, scale of spill etc. The resulting JIV document is signed by all parties present and forms the basis of any legal proceedings or compensation claims.
Within 2 weeks of a spill being identified oil companies must (by law) submit information (FORM B – enshrined in Nigerian law) to the government regulator which outlines areas of impact, area covered by spill, quantities spilled, quantities recovered, cause of spill, containment and cleanup measures etc.
When further cleanup efforts by the oil companies or their contractors is deemed complete, the oil company should contact the government regulator with a report on their cleanup operations (FORM C – enshrined in Nigerian law).
The oil company whose facilities have been compromised are always responsible for oil spill clean-up, regardless of the cause of an oil spill.