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Tag: Otuabagi

  • Otuabagi: Oil-rich land turns burial ground for children

    Otuabagi: Oil-rich land turns burial ground for children

    • Women lose  babies travelling to seek medical help for offsprings
    • Lack of personnel, equipment, cripple multi-million naira NDDC cottage hospital in community

    The land of Otuabagi, an agrarian community in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State from where Nigeria first extracted and exported crude oil in commercial quantity, has turned to a sepulchre where tender bodies of deceased children fertilise the soil. On account of the inoperable state of the cottage hospital built by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), women in the community are compelled to travel long distances to get medical care for their sick children. Unfortunately, many of them lose their children before getting to the hospital, INNOCENT DURU reports.

    Mrs Chiudo Ndubueze, a native of Abia State resident in Otuabagi, a suburb of Bayelsa State, was highly elated when she became pregnant sometime last year. It was her first pregnancy since she got married to her husband who was also delighted when she broke the news to him.

    As the expected delivery date approached, the husband, Mr Ndubueze, spent time caressing her stomach and gladly watched the baby kick and move around the mother’s womb. “That’s my baby. He’ll surely take after me,” Ndubueze would tease the wife as he looked forward to the joy of fatherhood.

    His dream came into reality on July 6 this year as the wife went into labour and was safely delivered of a baby boy. “Unfortunately,” Ndubueze said, “the baby died a few hours after delivery.”

    The wife was too devastated to speak when our correspondent asked her to share her experience. But the husband, although yet to overcome the grief caused by the loss of their baby, summoned courage to relive the heartrending  experience.

    His words: “My wife gave birth, and shortly after she was delivered of the baby, it was observed that the baby was not breathing very well. The woman that heads the primary health centre here took delivery of the baby.

    Ndubueze said after the challenge was noticed, the baby was  referred to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Yenagoa; about one-hour drive.

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    “When we were referred to Yenagoa, I asked the woman if the baby could survive travelling from Otuabagi to Yenagoa. Yet we had no choice but to follow the instruction.

    “My fears were later confirmed as the baby died on the way to Yenagoa.”

    Continuing, he said: “The medical officer we met at the hospital in Yenagoa still tried to use a pump-like equipment on the baby to see if she could revive him, but it was too late. She pumped and pumped to revive him to no avail. 

    “She later told us that the distance and stress from Otuabagi to Yenagoa compounded the baby’s health challenge. She said if they had used the equipment on the baby immediately the challenge was observed, it would have been revived.

    “Unfortunately, the deceased baby was our first child.”

    Ndubueze’s frustration is amplified by the fact that the massive cottage hospital in the community, which could have saved the baby’s life, is not functional.

    Our findings revealed that the hospital was built by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). NDDC is a federal government agency established by former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo in 2000, with the sole mandate of developing the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

    Some parts of the building are dilapidated. The female ward appears worse hit by the abandonment. Rain, sipping in from the leaking roof and ceiling has defaced part of the wall.

    A basin placed in the ward was filled with brownish rain water coming from the roof. The ambulance  donated by the NDDC is also grounded. The gigantic investment could best be described as a massive waste that forces tears out of residents’ eyes.

    “If the hospital was functional, we would not have needed to travel to Yenagoa and my child would not have died,” Ndubueze said agonisingly.

    With the distress caused by the baby’s death, Ndubueze said:

    “The next time she gets pregnant, I will not allow her to give birth here. Never! God forbid that I allow her to give birth in this community again. I will never take that risk.

    “I will do everything possible to make sure she goes to where she can have easy access to medical care the next time she gets pregnant. It is not easy for a woman to carry a pregnancy for nine months only to lose the baby at the end of the day.”

    The bereaved man recalled that his wife never went to the clinic for post natal treatment. “She was seriously discouraged. It was our female relations that came to use hot water to massage her body.”

    The disaster powered by the moribund Cottage Hospital had earlier been suffered by Doris, a native of the embattled community. “I lost my baby last year,” she said, struggling to relive her ordeal.   “The child was over a year old when he died. He fell ill, and as we were making efforts to rush him to a hospital outside the community, the baby died.”

    Doris said the challenge  that claimed the child’s life happened in the dead of the night. “We hurriedly chartered a tricycle to take him to Kolo for proper medical attention but the baby died as we were driving to Kolo.”

    Kolo, like Yenagoa, is far from Otuabagi. The horrible state of the road makes movement very hectic and tiring. 

    Asked how much she paid to go to Kolo, Doris said: “The tricycle driver charged N5,000 just to take us to Kolo. And we agreed because saving our baby’s life was more important than the financial demand. So, going to Kolo and coming back would be N10,000 when a tricycle is chartered. The road is really bad.”

    Doris said prior to the time she gave birth to the deceased baby, “I used to travel to Kolo for ante-natal. I used to ride in public bus when going for ante-natal. Going and coming used to cost me N2,000.

    “Members of the community who don’t have money to transport themselves to Kolo don’t go for ante-natal.  They don’t see doctors at all throughout their pregnancy.”  

    Asked why the baby was not taken to the Cottage Hospital, Doris retorted: “There is nobody there to attend to patients. We are very sad that the cottage hospital is not functional.

    “The despicable state of the hospital is really affecting us.  The government should come and fix the hospital for us. The buildings are not okay.”

    Baby dies in health worker’s womb

    A health worker at the primary health centre in the community, Rejoice Raymond, gladly went to the clinic to give birth on April 6, this year, but the baby was found to have died in her womb. 

    Rejoice said: “My boss, a midwife at the health centre, was the one managing me when I was pregnant.

     “I was seeing a doctor outside Otuabagi. I went to Kolo and Ogbia respectively for checks. 

    “I just had to travel that far to see doctors because the hospital here is not functioning.”

    After the sad loss of her baby, Rejoice is scared of getting pregnant again.

    “I won’t stay back here the next time I am pregnant. No, I can’t. I can’t-o.

    “Incidentally, some other women in the community are not as privileged as I am  to even step out of Otuabagi if they need to go and get medical help somewhere.

    “As for me, I can’t stay here anymore during pregnancy. I will try not to even get pregnant for now till I move out of here.”

    She also recalled how a friend of hers died with the pregnancy she was carrying, saying:

    “In November last year, we lost one of my friends who was a month pregnant. I guess she had an ectopic pregnancy. Because the cottage hospital here in Otuabagi is not functional, we tried to get a vehicle to take her outside the community for treatment in Kolo. But she was declared dead on arrival when we got to the hospital.”

    As a health worker and midwife, Rejoice said, “I take care of pregnant women too. Most of them are having challenges. I was a victim too.

    “People go to the cottage hospital but there is always no one to attend to them there. 

    “I witnessed the case of one woman one day; last year to be precise.

    “They were travelling when, from the bridge,  we heard a cry in the vehicle conveying her. She was just shouting inside the vehicle.

    “They were directed to the cottage hospital. When they got there, they opened their car and moved from room to room looking for somebody to attend to them. The woman ended up dying inside the vehicle.

    “Had it been that someone was in the hospital when they drove in to seek help, the woman’s life might have been saved if there were health workers in the hospital on that day.”

    With the Cottage Hospital not functional, Rejoice said, many pregnant women “are now going to traditional birth attendants who don’t have modern training regarding taking care of pregnant women.  There are so many complications that can arise when they handle pregnant women.

    “There are babies that come out without breathing. If nothing is done to help such babies, they can die within three minutes.

    “There is an equipment we use to use to help babies breathe. When I handled one delivery sometime last year, I used it on the baby and she was revived.

    “If it were at a traditional birth attendant’s place, the baby would have died.  It would not have been possible for it to survive considering the situation it was in.”

    Continuing, she said: “There are some other complications that arise too. When the cervix of a lady or a pregnant woman is not fully dilated and they forcibly ask her to push, because she is going through severe pain, the cervix will thicken itself thinking that the child would be in danger. 

    “It occurs naturally because that is how God made it.  When the cervix thickens, no miracle can bring out the baby through the cervix. It has to be through an operation.

    “Any delay may take the baby or even the mother’s life.”

    Women relive ordeal losing two children each

    It was a sad recall for another health worker in the community, Mrs Emmanuella Dennis. Asked about her ordeal, she was in tears as she recalled how she lost two children within a year. 

    “One of them only lived for two days before he died,” she said.

    “When I gave birth to him at Kolo hospital, I was discharged and we went home without any issue.

    “Two days later, he started having swollen and itchy eyes, so I took him back to the hospital in Kolo.

    “Getting there, they referred me to a hospital in Ogolobri. The place is very far. 

    “When they referred us, I started looking for money to go there. It took a very long  time before I got the money.

    “When I eventually got it, it was too late and we lost him.”

    Asked if she attended ante-natal care while pregnant, she said: “I was always travelling to Kolo  for ante-natal care when I was carrying the pregnancy.

    “It takes about 40 minutes to get to Kolo from here. It wasn’t  easy travelling that far, especially as an expectant mother. But I had no alternative. There is nothing one can do than to embark on that journey.

    “I lost my second child at FMC  Yenagoa; even before we got to Yenagoa from here.”

    Like other bereaved women in the community, he said “if the cottage hospital were functional, my babies could have been saved. If there is a functional hospital here, we can easily rush there for treatment.

    “Most of my fellow women here have lost children. The government should help us.

    “As I am talking to you, my four-year-old child is having itches in his private parts. I have taken him to the hospital, we ran tests and were given piriton to stop the itching.”

    Also recalling her ordeal, Mrs Amangi, wife of a frontline chief in the community, said: “I lost two children in less than two years.”

    Asked if the children were taken to the before they died, she swiftly responded: “Where is the hospital?  There was no hospital here then. The only place we could get medical care was in Yenagoa or Port Harcourt. 

    “Before we would get to any of those places, we lost the children.  We hadn’t even got anywhere when the children died.

    “Before you move on the bad road from here to Yenagoa, if you are not lucky, you will lose the sick person.  We are only living here by the grace of God.”

    She regretted that “many women have continued to lose their children too.

    “They said there is a hospital here, but when you get there, there is nothing happening. There is nothing in the hospital.”

    Menace of under-five deaths not new in Bayelsa

    Findings showed that death of children under five years is not new in Bayelsa State. In 2021, the government expressed worries over the alarming rate of under-five deaths from preventable causes.

    The state’s former Commissioner for Health, Dr Pabara Newton Igwele, through his representative at a function, said about 3,500 newborns died from preventable causes in their first month of life in the state, noting that it was one of the highest in the South-South region.

    He said: “In 2008 for instance, Bayelsa State had 64,000 babies delivered, out of which 3,500 died in their first month of life.

    “At the time, Bayelsa had the highest under-5 mortality rate in the South-South of the country with 95 deaths per 1,000 live births.

    “At present, when compared with the 2011 records, there has been a marked improvement on the number of under-5 mortality.

    “Despite this, the decline in newborn mortality rate has been considerably low as newborn deaths still account for 31 per cent of the total child mortality.

    “The percentage of deaths is becoming very embarrassing, and in the Southsouth, Bayelsa State is the worst and they die from preventable causes.”

    The state claims it has been making delivery of medical supplies and consumables to hospitals and health centres in the hinterlands using drones.

    Findings showed that the project took off in 2021 but none of such has been experienced by the people of Otuabagi.

    We’ll provide answer when it is ready – NDDC

    When our correspondent contacted the spokesperson of NDDC, Seledi Thompson Wakama penultimate Wednesday regarding the challenges faced by the people of Otuabagi, she said she would provide  answers when she had the response.

    Wakama said: “I can’t give you a time frame. I have to look for the information. I am even presently not in the office. I won’t even pick my call, but I just said no you are a public person, pick every call that comes to you.”

    Further asked when the information would be provided, she retorted: “Am I in court or a tribunal? When I have the information, I will send it across to you.” She had yet to provide any response at press time.

    Causes of under-five deaths –WHO

    Explaining the causes of under-five deaths, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said “globally, infectious diseases, including pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria, along with pre-term birth complications, birth asphyxia and trauma and congenital anomalies remain the leading causes of death for children under five years.“

    The WHO noted that access to basic lifesaving interventions such as skilled delivery at birth, postnatal care, breastfeeding and adequate nutrition, vaccinations and treatment for common childhood diseases can save many young lives.

    It added that “malnourished children, particularly those with severe acute malnutrition, have a higher risk of death from common childhood illnesses such as diarrhoea, pneumonia and malaria.

    “Nutrition-related factors contribute to about 45% of deaths in children under five years of age.”

    Bayelsa commissioner declines comment

    Efforts to get the reaction of the Bayelsa State Commissioner for Health, Prof Seiefa Brisibie on what the government is doing about the predicament of the embattled people were unsuccessful. Messages sent to him via WhatsApp and text messages were not replied.

    WhatsApp report showed that the message was delivered at 5:22 pm on Thursday and read by the commissioner but  didn’t reply.

  • Otuabagi going, going… Nigeria’s first home of crude oil discovery under threat of extinction

    Otuabagi going, going… Nigeria’s first home of crude oil discovery under threat of extinction

    •Tests reveal hydrocarbon poisoning in women’s blood, soil, water samples

     …battle miscarriages, low birth rate, early menopause, others

    When the crude oil that placed Nigeria among leading oil producing nations was first discovered in commercial quantity in Otuabagi, a suburb of Oloibiri community in Ogbia Local Government Area, Bayelsa State in 1958,  the people had high hopes that their lives would be positively impacted from the proceeds. From the period of the discovery 67 years ago till date, the living conditions of the people have rather taken a turn for the worse. All they have to show for producing the black gold is a harvest of strange diseases, a contaminated environment, and a future filled with uncertainty, INNOCENT DURU reports.

    Madam Paulina, a middle aged indigene of Otuabagi, historical community in Bayelsa State, suffers from a myriad of skin problems. She has lived with the challenge for so many years that it appears to have become normal for her to live with it.

    Online resources said scratching an itchy skin could at times feel good as the mild pain it causes triggers the brain to release pleasure-inducing chemicals like serotonin, which temporarily blocks the itch signal and creates pleasurable sensation.

    Madam Paulina often gets and savours this sort of pleasure, but the damage it does to her skin and mental wellbeing in the long run is indescribable.

    “Every part of my body itches,” she said in an emotion laden tone as she started scratching her troubled skin again.

    “At times, I experience serious coughing and vomiting. And this happens not to me alone but to many other people in the community,” she added.

    But in spite of the discomfort she suffers, Madam Paulina’s financial handicap would not permit her to go to the hospital.

    She said: “I use native medicine to treat myself because I don’t have money to go to the hospital.

    “I pluck leaves from the bush to treat myself. We learnt this from our forebears. But the herbs partially work for me only partially.”

    Aside from skin challenges, Paulina also suffers from another problem which, according to her, has defied every solution.

    “My menstrual cycle ceased long ago. It stopped when I was above 30 years, and now I am above 50. I was lucky to have a child before it stopped,” she said.

    Regretfully, she said she was not alone in this. “It is a common problem in this community,” she said.

    Contrary to fears in some quarters that the afflictions suffered by Paulina and numerous other members of the community could be a result of ancestral curse or offence against certain deities by their forebears, a recent medical test carried out on 80 women in the community by Kabetkache Women’s Development and Resource Centre, a non- governmental organisation based in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, through an independent researcher  showed that the women, their soil and water  have disturbing levels of hydrocarbon in them. 

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    Explaining the outcome of the test, a community leader, Chief Amangi Sodaguo Daniel, Aabu XI said: “As against the World Health Organisation’s recommendation of 0.00002% polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon in the blood system of humans, the result shows 15% of hydrocarbon in our system, and 100 per cent of the women had the same result.

    “It implies that the foodstuffs we plant in this soil and the fruits we eat are also polluted. You can imagine the type of life we have been living for years.”

     A native of the community, Esther Orubo, said the challenge stemmed from a leakage from an oil well head abandoned by the oil exploration giants, Shell, about 50 years ago.

    “The terrain here is wet. When it rains, it brings out the oil from that well, which spreads everywhere in the environment.

    “We drink the same water that is polluted and eat contaminated food produced by the polluted ground,” Orubo said.

    The sight of oil floating on flowing water lends credence to the people’s assertions.

    Like Madam Paulina, Esther Orubo said she had also been having a running battle with skin problems and other health challenges.

    She said: “I have suffered from skin diseases numerous times.  I’ve also suffered from respiratory illnesses. I have fertility issues and early menopause too.

    “I am less than 40 years old, but my period has long stopped. I just gave birth to a child seven years ago,” she said.

    She regretted that the community has been bedeviled by ‘weird’ illnesses over the years with no end in sight.

    “We have recorded cases of cancer, liver diseases, respiratory illnesses, infertility, psychological issues, skin diseases, among others, which the community was never known for,” she added.

    An aged member of the community, Madam Ikiombhar, says her skin problem is aggravated by painful boils.

    Her words: “I have been having rashes and boils all over my body for years. I take tablets when the boils or rashes become too much.

    “But it is not every time I have money to buy the tablets. I spend between N2,000 and N5,000 on drugs to clear the boils.

    “They mix the tablets for me at chemists because our hospital is not functional. From here to Kolo where you have a functional hospital is very far.”

    Wife of a frontline leader in the community, Mrs Amangi, said she had been having various health challenges, adding “I entered menopause when I was only 38 years old.  Imagine entering menopause at that age.”

    We’re having miscarriages, giving birth to deformed children

    Aside from skin problems and early menopause, a worried member of the beleaguered community, Mitema George Suoye, said, “people have been dying in the community and women have been having miscarriages. Many children are born with deformities too.

    “One of my children is also deformed.  No human being, no matter how hard-hearted, will see our plight and not shed tears. We complained but nobody, including the state government, cares about us.”

    Natives decry polluted water, oil spill challenges

    The natives decried the menace of oil pollution and absence of potable water in their land. 

    The rivers from where they fetch water are unclean and unfit for consumption. Surfaces of the murky rivers are covered by rambling weeds. But that is what they have as their primary source of water supply.

    “Our water is not good. The water is red. Oil has spoilt everything.  There is no water for us to drink, so we have no alternative but to drink it as bad as it is,” Madam Ikiombhar said.

    Prodded further, she said: “We defecate in the bush because we have no toilets. We pooh inside the river and still drink the water. Do we have an alternative? The answer is no!”

    When fetching water from the river, she said, “you will use something to remove the thing (fecal matter and dirt) and take the water. We don’t boil the water. That is alien to us.”

    Asked why she does not take sachet water, at least, she said “it is not everybody that has money to buy it.”

    Also decrying the horrible water in the land, Mitema Suoye said: “We have been told after the tests not to drink water from the river behind my house again, but what are we going to do now? 

    “The river we have is the same river in which people pour refuse, defecate and bathe. We fetch drinking water from there early in the morning and only add alum to purify it.”

     Corroborating Suoye’s remark, Mrs Amangi said: “At times, you see crude oil on the surface of the water. The place where we used to farm is also contaminated with oil.

    “Unfortunately, there is nothing that is being done about it.”

    NDDC’s poorly constructed water project compounds community’s woes

    A solar water project constructed by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to ease the challenge of water supply in the community is said not to be serving the purpose.

    “The solar panels were installed but are not functioning.  I am not sure the community has ever used it to pump water since it was installed.

    “The only alternative is to pump with a generator, but the price of fuel is huge, hence the periodic supply of water,” Chief Amangi said.

    Giving a breakdown of what it costs to pump water with a generator, Chief Amangi said: “Filling the reservoir tank on the ground takes about 75 litres of fuel, and pumping the water up to the overhead tank for distribution takes about 120 litres.”

    Checks  around the community showed that a solar borehole sunk by Niger Delta Development Basin is clean.

    Chief Amangi said there is no cost attached to  fetching the water.

    He said: “The research report from Kabetkache certified this particular bore hole about 80% clean and as you can see the iron content stain on the septic stand.

    “Again due to the distance or location of the bore hole most people, especially those from both ends of the community could not access it and even those who can have to wait in long queues to get a bucket or gallon per day.”

    On her part, Suoye noted that the NNDC water is better but “the maintenance remains a challenge. If they treat the water and supply it to us once, they won’t give us again until they deem it fit.

    “We will then have to depend on water from the river to quench our thirst and meet other needs.” 

    Medical test result infuriates natives

    The people have been infuriated since the medical test conducted on the women by Kabekatche revealed they have high levels of hydrocarbons in them.

    “They found aromatic hydrocarbons in our system. I have been feeling very uncomfortable and angry since the result came out. It is very painful now that we know that these sufferings are as a result of the crude oil they said they were bringing to change our lives,” Orubo lamented. 

    Going down memory lane, she said:  “According to our parents, they brought the news that crude oil discovery and exploration would transform the environment. Our parents welcomed the idea but all we have are afflictions.

    “And now that we know that all our sufferings are as a result of this, it is even more frustrating because we don’t even really know what to do to come out of this whole mess.

    “We have presented the result to public office holders. The local government chairmen and traditional rulers have copies of this report.”

    Also speaking, Madam Ikiombhar said: “I did the test and they found that my blood is contaminated because of the crude oil that has polluted our environment.

    “I don’t sleep at night, and that is the most serious problem I have now. Even when I take sleeping pills I would not sleep for more than an hour before I wake up.”

    After the test, Mitema Suoye said: “I almost fainted when they showed us the result. They found plenty oil in our bodies.”

    Why we carried out medical tests —Dr. Okon

    Explaining why her organisation carried out medical tests on the women, founder and executive director of Kabetkache Women’s Development and Resource Centre, a women’s rights organisation, Dr. Emem Okon, said: “We have been carrying out campaigns on women and extractives over the years, and it was important to carry out a specific research on how women are being impacted by oil.

    “The chosen location is the community that is host to the first oil well in Nigeria, Oloibiri Oil Well 1. We engaged medical personnel to lead the research.

    “The 80 women whose blood samples were taken for analysis, the whole 80 of them, there were percentages of hydrocarbons found in their blood samples beyond the limits permissible by the World Health Organisation.

     “Those were the critical findings that came out from that research. 

    “Water samples that were taken in the community, all of them had percentages of the hydrocarbon.”

    She added: “The soil also has hydrocarbon content because the  cassava, cocoyam, and other crops that samples were taken from all have those toxic elements.

    “The research also revealed that oil wells 2 and oil well 4 are still leaking crude into the environment. That means that they were not properly corked.

    “Shell moved out of that community since 1975, but the oil wells were not decommissioned.”

    She observed that the oil wells were abandoned possibly because “they didn’t get crude again in commercial quantities.  So, since 1975, there has been no operation.

    “The wells were not decommissioned and the environment is still heavily polluted and people still live in the community.”

    Worried by the outcome of the medical tests, Dr Emem said: “We are still carrying out advocacy engagements to ensure that something is done.

    “Part of our demand is that beginning with those 80 women, there should be medical treatment.

    “I don’t know what kind of treatment can be provided that can mitigate whatever impact the hydrocarbon in their blood could be causing.

    “And then compensation should be paid to those women and to everybody in the community, but beginning with those 80 women that offered their blood samples to be taken.”

    She added:  “When we engaged NOSDRA in Bayelsa State the last time, they said we should write back to them to visit the community and carry out their own assessment to confirm the findings from the research. 

    “Part of what they wanted to confirm is that some existing oil wells in that community are still leaking crude into the environment and also to determine what interventions they can carry out to mitigate the problem. So that letter was written, but we are still waiting for them to take action.”

    Continuing, she said: “Another suggestion that came from NOSDRA was that a peer review of the report should be conducted.

    “But the report of that research corroborates the report of the Bayelsa Oil and Environment Commission, because part of the findings from the commission is that it  also took blood samples of 1,600 community members in the state during the course of the assessment of the extent of pollution in Bayelsa, and the whole 1,600 were found to have hydrocarbon in their blood.”

    Emem called on “the government and the corporation to take action and remediate the polluted environment in Bayelsa State and in Otuabagi in particular.

    “We have gone ahead to hold a consultation meeting with NOSDRA on remediation. And we have actually invited them to come and train women on remediation. 

    “The findings from that research should not just remain in people’s bookshelves.

    “Action should be taken to address the issues. We will not keep quiet.”

    Shell declines comment

    Efforts to get the reaction of Shell were unsuccessful.

    The Communications Manager, Gladys Afam-Anadu neither responded to calls nor replied to a text message to her mobile line.

    We’ll provide answer when it is ready- NDDC

    Spokesperson of NDDC, Seledi Thompson Wakama said she would not be able to give a response when contacted last  Wednesday.

    “I can’t give you a time frame. I have to look for the information.  I am even presently not in the office. I won’t even pick my call but I just said no you are a public person, pick every call that comes to you.”

    When further asked when the information will be provided, she responded: “Am I in court or a tribunal?  When I have the information I will send it across to you.”

    She had yet to provide any response close to two weeks after she gave her words.

    Otuabagi blessed but unfortunate

    Otuabagi is naturally blessed, going by the volume of natural resources it is endowed with. Incidentally, it bears the proverbial tag of the goose that lays the golden eggs but never benefits from it.

    The community does not readily come to mind as Oloibiri, the legendary oil community in the same council area. However, out of the 21 oil wells widely known as “Oloibiri oilfield,” drilled by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), through which Nigeria exported its first crude, 18 were located in Otuabagi, including the famous Oil Well 1 bored at a depth of 12,008 ft.

    Explaining why the first oil discovery is often said to be in Oloibiri, Chief Amangi said: “It is named Oloibiri oil field because Oloibiri was then the headquarters of Ogbia Kingdom. And the only way Shell could locate the oil well was to name it after the Oloibiri where we had the only functional postal agency.

    “Unfortunately, the benefit Otuabagi was supposed to get was siphoned  to Oloibri town. Scholarships were given to Oloibiri town, Otabagi was never remembered. We are neglected.”

    Prior to the period Otuabagi became heavily polluted, Mitema Suoye said, the community teemed with life.

    She said: “When I was growing up in the community, I lived with my grandmother, and we didn’t lack for anything. We were eating to our satisfaction. Even fish was in abundance in the river. Inside the forest, we had very big lobsters.

    “But all that is no more available. We have no fish again in the river because of oil exploration.  Oil flows on our river, and even on the land.  If you plant something, it doesn’t do well again.

    “Before cassava gets to six months on the farm, it will rotten.”