Coastal Communities Call for Environmental Justice Several Months After Oil Spill Remains Uncleaned

 

By Obiabin Onukwugha 

 

Several months after a massive oil spill caused by a fire incident that occured on a Floating Production Storage and Offloading Facility at Ajakpa Field, OML 90, affected communities are demanding for environmental and human rights justice as the environment remains polluted and unremediated.

 

Recall that the spill affected coastline communities, including Odimodi, Beneboye and Isiayeigbene in Iduwini Clan of Burutu Local Government area of Delta State, known as Forcados, in July this year.

 

Three months after the incident, the affected communities are now calling due justice. They are also calling on relevant authorities to prevail on the operator, Brittania-U to take responsibility for the crude oil spill which occurred on the 18th of July 2024.

 

The communities said they have been impacted by several oil spills for decades that oil exploration have taken place in the facility which has affected both their economic activities and health.

 

Secretary of Odimodi, Preye Oweide, has therefore called on the government and the public to compel Brittania-U to conduct an assessment of the spill to ascertain the level of impact on the environment and the people.

 

He is also calling for an urgent cleanup and remediation of the affected areas, adequate loss and damages compensation and relief materials for the communities.

 

Preye spoke when he received a delegation from a People’s Assembly Action organized by Community Development Advocacy Foundation (CODAF), in the respective affected communities, as part of the lineup of activities towards the African People’s Counter COP (APCC) which is supported by the Africa Climate Justice Collective (ACJC), last week.

 

Preye stated that he received a call on the 18th of July 2024, from the chairman of Beneboye Community, of an explosion in the sea, which led to the fire that gutted the vessel. According to him, the entire shoreline was covered with a high level of crude oil the next morning when he visited the community the next day with other members of the executives. He added that despite the series of letters and videos sent to the company and other agencies, neither the company nor the government have responded.

 

He lamented that the people of the communities who rely on fishing and farming as their means of livelihood, have been driven into a deep level of poverty, as the spill has destroyed their nets, have chased away the fishes and their farm lands destroyed.

 

Other residents of the various impacted communities also amented that despite the grave health damages, environmental and air pollution caused by the spill, neither the company, NOSDRA or any other agency have visited the communities to ascertain the level of damages caused by the spill and how the fishing and farming folks have survived in the face of their degraded environment and the destruction of livelihood.

 

One of the residents, Esther Abogu, from Beneboye community who also spoke during the program said: “We have really suffered in this community. Since the Brittania-U vessel got burnt, three of my grandchildren are suffering from serious cough. When the vessel was burning, it was like a war here. All our eyes were filled with smoke. We lost all our fishing materials. We have been crying since. Even our only source of drinking water has been destroyed. We want the company to come and replace our fishing materials, to pay us for damages and clean up our land.’

 

Another resident from Isiayeggbene community, Jacob Obolo, mentioned that waste liquid from the facility was being disposed into the water which further pollutes the environment and destroy aquatic life.

 

Obolo stated: “That pipeline you see there comes directly from the Shell Forcados terminal. The waste liquid made up of oil and water is being disposed into the sea from this pipe. When the water and chemical gets into the sea, it kills our fishes. When we buy over N30,000 worth of fuel to fill or tanks and go fishing, what we come back with is very small. 

 

“We have had several oil spills from Shell facility but they will blame it on sabotage without doing anything to clean up. We have been suffering from Shell spills before the one of Brittania-U in July. On the 18th of July, we were watching as the Brittania-U vessel was burning. Before we knew it, all the crude oil in the vessel started flowing towards the shore. We have some of the crude we collected to keep as evidence. This creek that passes from the sea to our water side, the crude oil spread from here to other communities in Odimodi. 

 

“We are the ones producing the oil they use to develop other places but we are the ones suffering the most. Where the boat was burning was so far away so we could not reach it but we saw the oil on our land. Since the spill, nobody from the company or the government have come to see us. We are pleading with the company to come and clean up or land. They should also provide food and relief materials to help the people to fight hunger until we get back on our feet. They should also compensate us for the damages.”

 

Helen Peremene from the same community said children and women are worse hit in the spill. “Since after the spill from Brittania- happened, no one has come to help us. The hunger and suffering have become too much for us. The women here can tell you how much we have suffered. 

 

Our children are hungry and cannot go to school because we don’t have any means of making money. Our only source of drinking water has been polluted. Everything we use to survive here has been destroyed. Our fishing materials, farm lands, plantain plantations…everything has been destroyed by the oil spill. We have cried but nobody came to our aid,” she lamented.

 

Speaking with residents of the various communities, Executive Director of CODAF, Richard Benin, regretted that the domestic and international oil exploration companies in the Niger Delta region have continued to pollute the environment because host communities lack the capacity to speak together in one voice andd demand accountability from the companies and the government who are key beneficiaries of oil extraction.

 

Benin emphasised that CODAF and other affiliate organizations in Nigeria, Africa and the world can only act on these reports if the communities can be united to speak about their challenges and tell the world about their stories of hunger, poverty, health challenges and neglect, despite their status as an oil rich region.

 

The body later inaugurated the “A Million Tree School Club Project” in Odimodi Secondary School, Odimodi as part of efforts towards mitigating the impacts of climate change, environmental pollution and remediation, and to educate the younger generation on the importance of tree planting, its effect on climate change and the need for environmental restoration, especially among oil producing communities. .