Residents of five communities in Eleme local government area of Rivers have cried out over massive oil spill from a Trans-National oil facility operated by the Joint Venture partners with Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) to their areas.

The spill has polluted the Okulu River in the Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State.

The oil spill became noticeable on Sunday, June 11 on the Okulu River, which runs through several communities in the local government area, including, Aleto,Ogale, Agbonchia, Onne, Okpaku, Alesa still spreading.

It has rendered about 300 registered fishermen unable to do their jobs.

Confirming the development, the Chairman of Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State, Mr Obarilomate Ollor, while inspecting the spill site, said preliminary observations showed that the spill was caused by equipment failure.

Mr Ollor, who accused Shell Nigeria of not showing concern so far over the development, called for calm among the affected communities, while expressing optimism that the right steps will be taken to restore the environment.

“We have discussed on the phone with the people who are managers of the pipeline in Shell. They are yet to be here; however, whenever they come for a JIV (Joint Investigative Visit), the cause of the spills will be ascertained by them.

“We already know this (spill) is not sabotage, but let them come for a JIV and let’s look at it together and agree on what caused the spill,” he said.

“Our people are aggrieved, the youths are angry, especially those who would have gone fishing today, are all stranded, and they don’t have other jobs because they survive from fishing.

“All the business activities that go on around this river have been shut down because of the oil spill, so it’s a great loss and a bad day for Eleme people. I feel bad, but as a government, we are going to cooperate with the company because this was not pre-planned,” he added.

Various interest groups have been expressing concerns about the devastating effect of the spill. For instance, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has reacted to the spills in parts Eleme.

The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, owners of the pipelines is yet to stop the spill as the time of this report which will likely affect more communities beyond Ogoni the time of this report.

President of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke, called the spill another testament of Shell’s lies and revealed that Shell had secretly been operating its facilities in Ogoni.

“If Shell claims that it is not operating the oilfields secretly in Ogoni, then how come we have such massive oil spills that affect several communities and have contaminated massive lands and waters in the area?”

The MOSOP leader said the spills are another testament of Shell’s sub-standards in operations management in Ogoni. He noted that by now, Shell should have decommissioned its facilities in Ogoni going by the recommendations of the United Nations Environment Programme on Ogoni which Shell and the government claim to have been implementing since 2016.

The MOSOP leader regretted that there had been much insincerity on the part of Shell in the handling of and decommissioning of its facilities in Ogoni and called on the Nigerian authorities to introduce more severe penalties for oil spill cases and environmental pollution.

“Environment pollution has been encouraged in Nigeria because there are little or no consequences for the polluters. This is something the government should strongly consider in the light of present realities where people’s lives are altered by constant pollution and no one is held to account” Nsuke said this morning.

Coordinator of MOSOP in Eleme Kingdom, Wale Emereonwi said properties and sources of livelihood have been completely destroyed. He called for immediate intervention urging Shell to immediately bring the spill to a halt and address the displacement issues created by the spillage.

The Ogoni area has witnessed several unrest over the years due to protests occasioned by massive pollution from Shell Petroleum, environmental and economic deprivations. The people have called for the implementation of an Ogoni Development Authority to address their concerns and restore normal economic activities in the area.

On its part, the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria) has cautioned against exposing the Ogoni environment to fresh oil spills, especially since HYPREP was already struggling to carry out the clean-up of oil-impacted sites in Ogoniland.

The Executive Director of YEAC-Nigeria, Mr Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface, who described the fresh oil spill as one too many, said: “We expected NOSDRA to have determined by now the cause of the spill and the volume through a JIV. If it’s established that the spill is from equipment failure, then Shell should move in quickly to contain the spill, remediate the area and compensate the affected communities.

“Since Shell is divesting from onshore, one would have thought that they would take steps to manage their pipelines which are now bursting like balloons as a resulting obsoleteness from multiple years of operation, without being replaced.

“Shell should ensure that further spills are not happening in the Ogoni area cause it is affecting the people, devastating the ecosystem and contributing to the already polluted environment, which HYPREP is trying to clean up,” he stated.

Joint Investigation team made of stakeholders have visited the scenes of the spill but the result of the investigation as the time of filing this report.