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…Another oil spill occurs in Eleme
From TONY JOHN, Port Harcourt
Residents of Obagi community in Egi land, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State, have deserted their community, after an explosion rocked a facility belonging to Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC)
Sunday Sun gathered that the fire which started Wednesday night, caused residents of Obagi to flee the community in fear of the devastating effects of pipeline explosion which destroyed farmland and aquatic lives.
A community source, Morgan Destiny, who spoke on the incident, said indigenes and residents of Obagi deserted their community on the day of incident, which occurred at night.
Destiny lamented: “Several occasions, we had reported issues of havoc the firm is committing on the people of Obagi: gas flaring, explosion. It has become a norm to destroy our environment without a remorse.
“Obagi is really in a pitiable condition. The issue of gas eruption and explosion that happened two days ago started eight months ago. I personally have reported this issue to many authorities. But, none of them listened to us until the issue escalated.
“That night, we didn’t sleep; there was thick smoke, fire gushing out of our farmland from the Agip gas facility. But, to God be the glory, we are all alive today to tell the story”.
Also, the ONELGA Chairman, Vincent Job, while reacting to the incident, said the explosion was caused by equipment failure on the Agip facility.
He said: “Maybe because of equipment failure from the company. Although experts have more things to say about it. For us who are novice in oilfield, we found out that it is equipment failure, because some of these equipment have lasted more than 30 to 40 years and this calls for removal, repair or replacement of those pipelines.
“So far, we have not had any casualty in the gas incident at Obagi, but the degradation was enormous, even the noise coming from that place. I went there myself and saw it on a spot, I couldn’t even get closer because if there is any spark, so many lives will be lost.”
Speaking further, Job called: “Federal government, in as much as they are collecting their crude, it is a natural economy, they should also ensure that they put every other thing in place that will keep the livelihood of the locals.
“If you go to that Obagi, one will not believe that such economic resources are being collected from such community. Their lives are so bad, the locals were crying.
In a related development, there was fresh crude oil spill on a pipeline reportedly belonging to Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) in Ogoniland.
It was learnt that the spill occurred on Friday, January 19, 2024, on the Obolo-Ogale (close to Ebubu Community) Shell’s pipeline right-of- way in Eleme Local Government Area of the state.
However, no casualty was recorded in the two incidents.
