He said the spill spread to affect the rivers right from the Ogboinbiri axis to other rivers in the area. “The volume of crude oil was really heavy. It covered the whole of our river.
“It was so devastating that our people could no longer go to the river and take their bath or fetch drinking water; the river is our main source of drinking and every other domestic use. Due to the heavy pollution and resultant scarcity of drinking water, the cost of water sachet in the community rose from N10.00 to N30.00.
“And, most of our people cannot afford the sachet water at that price. We are very much worried of what the situation might lead to considering the recent outbreak of cholera in some communities in the local government area”, he said.
He appealed to the company to immediately clean-up the river and its banks properly. He urged Shell to send relief materials including water and drugs and pay adequate compensation for the pollution, damage and inconveniences suffered by the community.
He said: “This call has become necessary because we have suffered this sort of thing other times from Shell and Agip and they have continued to ignore our cries; with no feelings whatsoever for us as if we are not human beings. They would always say that the spill was caused by third party and so, there is nothing they can do.
“But we are far away from whatever source the so-called third-party spill comes from. How can we continue to suffer from what we know nothing about like that? Those who benefit from those past spills we suffered were people from different places, strangers who got the contracts for clean-up and other related matters.
“We that are directly impacted are always left just like that; to suffer from the negative impacts only. We are tired of this inhuman treatment and, we want Shell to do those things I mentioned earlier: Clean-up, send Relief materials and compensate the community adequately”.
A leader from the community, Chief Barack Ogiere further confirmed the incident. He said: “Very early in the morning when we went down to the waterside, we observed that crude oil has visited us again; covering the whole surface of the water.
“It was devastating because we couldn’t take our bath again in the river, no way to fetch and drink the water from the river; we could no longer do anything with the river we depend on. And we don’t even have any wells or borehole here, the river has been our only source of water.
“Neither the oil companies nor the government has considered implementing any projects here for us. I haven’t had my bathe throughout today. Since the spill is traced to Shell’s facility at Ogboinbiri; the company should come and clean-up our environment to the original state God gave to us, because we solely depend on this river for every of our water needs.
“We even need relief materials right now before clean-up. Besides they should pay compensation for the severity of this heavy volume of crude oil spill that has just impacted us. The suffering is continuing, children are sick in the community.”
A woman, Mrs. Peretei Francis, said the river was highly polluted. She said they were managing the water before but later discovered they could no longer use it.
She said: “The current reality is that we cannot make use of the water again; it is polluted. When we fetch it to the house and drink, the children begin to fall sick. In the light of the above, Shell should come and clean-up the river for us without delays.
“They should come and repair what has been damaged by the crude oil. The fishes have also no more around since this spill spread to this environment; we no longer kill fish. All the fish nets we set around the river have been impacted, soaked by crude oil and so; they can no longer catch fish.
“So, they should come and repair the river for us. After that, they should give us borehole as an alternative source of water. Shell should also send us relief materials: food including fish, because there is no more fish around, drugs and water.
“We are hungry and presently most of the children are suffering from stomach ache. So they should quickly come and clean the impacted river for us. I also have a message for the Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC), please tell NAOC that they should stop turning the river into refuse dump. All the wastes they dump in the river are being transferred to us downstream and we are not happy with the act”.
In its observation, ERA, said booms used by Shell to contain the spills had failed. It said the community people were obviously worried about the situation.
“Crude oil slick was observed right from Ogboinbiri till the field monitors got to Keme-Ebiama. The Water Hyacinths floating on the river and by the sides of the river were soaked in crude oil and were wilting.
“Although the people said due to the one-way flowing current the volume of crude o
il has reduced; much was still observed within the immediate environment of the community”, it said.
ERA further knocked Shell for not conducting Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) two months after the spill. “This is very strange and unacceptable. Shell cannot leave crude oil in the open and on the canal where fisher folks and farmers also access”, it said.
ERA demanded that Shell should mobilize to ensure that JIV is done concerning the spill. It called on the relevant agencies of government and security agencies to take appropriate measures to ensure Shell does the right thing and promptly too.
“Shell should send relief materials, food stuff, water, medical team and drugs to take care of the concerns and needs of the impacted communities.
“Shell should not only take full responsibility of the spreading crude oil spilt from the company’s facility; Shell should also carry out adequate clean-up of the impacted rivers/creeks and surrounding environment.
“Shell should compensate victims of the spreading crude oil. Payment should take into consideration individual and general damages”, the report said.
The state government is also very unhappy with Shell’s handling of the incident. The Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Iniruo Wills, said the government was taking the massive pollution seriously. Wills said the government had sent a letter to Shell emphasizing the importance of immediately cleaning the impacted site.
He also said that the management of Shell was invited to a meeting to discuss the development on Tuesday. But he regretted that the company did not show up.
He said: “We are taking it seriously. We have written to ask them to ensure quick clean-up and containment of the area with the full involvement of the State Ministry of Environment and National Oil Spill Detection Response Agency (NOSDRA).
“We also invited them for a meeting but they didn’t show up. So,we will proceed with some of the steps we have in mind to unfold.”
The Spokesman of SPDC, Mr Joseph Obari, said at the weekend that the firm was yet to conduct a Joint Investigation Visit on the spill site.
