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From Tony John, Port Harcourt
An oil spill has reportedly occurred in Ebubu Community, Eleme Local Government Area (Ogoniland) of Rivers State.
A non-governmental organisation known as Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria), raised the alarm in Port Harcourt, yesterday.
Executive Director of YEAC-Nigeria, Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface, disclosed that the spill had been ongoing for the past three days and there was no sign of containing it soonest.
Fyneface said: “As part of Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre’s (YEAC-Nigeria) Crude Oil Spill Alert System (COSAS), the organisation wishes to alert members of its network, the authorities, the media and the general public that an oil spill has occurred in Ebubu community in Eleme.
The spill according to the community sources was suspected to have been caused by equipment failure, subject to joint investigation visit (JIV) confirmation.
Fyneface continued: “The reports also claimed that some members of the community were allegedly working clandestinely and Nicodemusly to cover up the oil spill for Shell on whose facility it occurred in return for personal aggrandisement and gains.”
The advocacy centre, which is a frontline youths and environmental organisation that works with communities in the Niger Delta region to address environmental concerns, seeks ecological and environmental justice, adding that it would release more details about the new oil spill in Ebubu Community (Ogoniland) as soon as practicable.
Fyneface stated: “It would be recalled that Ebubu Community was in court with Shell for about 32 years till 2021 when the company paid about $111million (about N45.9billion) in compensation over an oil spill that occurred on the same Shell’s facility in the late 1960s during the Nigeria civil war that lasted between 1967-1970.”
