By Ignatius Chukwu
Oil spill is said to have ravaged many communities in Ogoni, and Shell has confirmed it.
Details:
Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has confirmed the oil spill alarm sent out by the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) that took place in Eleme area of Rivers State.
MOSOP had sent the alert June 15, 2023 morning, saying the spill had spread to many communities.
SPDC reacted soon after confirming spill took place on June 11. The SPDC statement said the joint venture could confirm a spill incident at a facility of the joint venture in Eleme, Rivers State. “We are working closely with a multi-stakeholder Joint Investigation Visit team led by the regulators, Nigerian Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), in collaboration with Rivers State Ministry of Environment, and community representatives, as the investigation into the cause and impact of the incident progresses.
“Meanwhile, the SPDC Emergency Response and Spill Response teams have been activated, subject to safety requirements, to mobilise to the site to take actions that may be necessary for the safety of environment, people and equipment.
“We will continue to provide updates as new information emerges, and we appreciate the understanding and support of the community at this time.”
MOSOP had reported what it called massive oil spill in Ogoni communities including Ogale, Aleto, Agbonchia, Onne, Okpaku, and Alesa, all in Eleme local government area of Rivers State.
The area is covered by Oil Mining License 11 which was shut down by Shell over 20 years ago during community crisis that led to loss of many lives and trial and killing of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the other eight in what today is known as the ‘Ogoni-9’.
Sources said the spill is spreading through the communities and has affected residential areas, farmlands, and the surrounding waters and beyond.
No authority had claimed responsibility in the latest spill but MOSOP had said it was from the SPDC facilities. The oil company has confirmed at last.
MOSOP has said SPDC, owners of the pipelines, was yet to stop the spill which they feared would likely affect more communities beyond Ogoni.
Shell has not disclosed cause of the spill pending investigations, but the oil giant has always made it known that they do not drill oil in Ogoni anymore but they have always blamed most fresh spills on what they term third party interference (pipeline breaking, oil theft, etc).
Despite this, the president of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke, called the spill another testament of Shell’s lies and revealed that Shell had secretly been operating its facilities in Ogoni.
“If Shell claims that it is not operating the oilfields secretly in Ogoni, then how come we have such massive oil spills that affect several communities and have contaminated massive lands and waters in the area?”
The MOSOP leader said the spills are another testament of sub-standards in operations management in Ogoni. He noted that by now, Shell should have decommissioned its facilities in Ogoni going by the recommendations of the United Nations Environment Programme on Ogoni which Shell and the government claim to have been implementing since 2016.
The MOSOP leader regretted that there had been much insincerity on the part of the oil giant in the handling of and decommissioning of its facilities in Ogoni and called on the Nigerian authorities to introduce more severe penalties for oil spill cases and environmental pollution, according to a statement by Alex Akori, the Secretary-General.
