Unending oil spill lamentations

From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa

The people of Ikarama in Yenagoa Local Government, Bayelsa State, again have cause to lament the devastating effect of crude oil spill on the environment. They took turns to highlight what they have been going through during an environmental monitoring training organised by Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) at Ikarama.

Executive Director, HOMEF, Revd Nnimmo Bassey, explained that a safe environment was fundamental to support lives and livelihood: “There is a need for the people who are victims of oil and gas pollution to be vigilant in protecting the environment.

“It is good for the people of the community to ensure that the economic interests of investors did not threaten the environment. There is a need to raise volunteers who would protect the ecosystem from degradation and pollution.”

Former woman leader of Ikarama community, Mrs Ayibakuro Warder, said: “Oil spill is causing so much havoc in our lives, especially health challenges. These include miscarriages, cancer and water borne diseases. Sickness we didn’t experience before, now we experience it.

“As a farmer you need to have a good harvest to take care of your family either sell or eat but for now because of crude oil, we can no longer support our family and we are suffering in silence. Many of the Nigerians you see are hungry. This is causing serious problems for us. There is no place you would go in Ikarama that is not affected by the oil spill. We plead with the polluters to come and clean up their mess.

“My experience at my lake is a case study of the terrible situation we are in.  We have Oya Lake which is about 100 meters from the pipeline. There was a spill in 2007 and the spill moved down to Oya Lake. The remediation was not done properly.

“As we speak, there is still some crude oil inside the lake because of the poor clean up. We also have Oboro Lake. It is from Oboro Lake that oil flowed to the Oya Lake. In fact, no remediation has been carried out at Oburun Lake. There has not been any proper clean up.”

Francis spoke on behalf of the youths. He fumed: “The people of Ikarama are angry. When we talk of Ikarama, the people were not like this. Ikarama is a good place to stay and live. We don’t have crops again because of crude oil.

“The youths of Ikarama are angry. It is the community leader that is calming us down. They should come and do proper remediation. By the time the youths reinforce and run out of patience, things would happen.

“The youth president, the CDC chairman and the paramount are good leaders. They are the ones calming the youths down.  This is why Ikarama is calm for now.”

Youth president, Glitter Zain, stated: “Oil spill has ravaged our community. Before now our mothers used to harvest big cassavas and yams. Now what we have is like human fingers. We are suffering.

“So many species of fishes have disappeared. We are dying while oil is being taken from our land. They come and do proper remediation.”

Chairman, Development Chairman (CDC), Joel, said: “The negative effects of oil are so numerous that we cannot continue to list them. As a young child between four and five years growing up, I saw different species of fishes. We used to go to the river to play with fishes.

“The fishes were all over the river.  We used our legs to bring them from the river and to take them home. But today those fishes are no more. Our older ones then would go to the river and to catch fishes with their hands.

“But today that is not possible. You can go to the River with a net and you won’t catch any fish for a day. It is now like the story of Peter and the fishermen that toiled from morning till night without any fish.”

Joel raised the alarm that species of fishes seen in Ikarama have since gone extinct because of the effect of crude oil: “Orobo and Oluboforo are some of the species of fish no longer seen. Mud fish which is popularly called Iyoro is no longer in this axis.

“It started about four years back when you see the fish it is handicapped, disfigured. Initially we thought those things were from injury not knowing something terrible was happening to them as a result of crude oil. Now we find it difficult to see one no matter how you toiled the forest.

“Crude oil has caused so much damage. I am a farmer, I was born into a farming family. Now, no matter how we till the ground, we cannot yield what we used to get. Cassava, yams, and plantain are not doing well. We are begging NGOs to help us.”