Sad As Massive Oil Spills From Shell Facility Hit Parts Of Nigeria’s Ogoni Land, Homes, Farmland Affected, MOSOP
The spills reportedly affected the communities of Ogale, Aleto, Agbonchia, Onne, Okpaku, Alesa, all in Eleme local government area of Ogoni.
The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has reported “fresh and massive oil spills” in parts of Ogoni land.
The spills reportedly affected the communities of Ogale, Aleto, Agbonchia, Onne, Okpaku, Alesa, all in Eleme local government area of Ogoni.
According to the organisation, the spills said to be spreading have affected residential areas, farmlands and the surrounding waters.
MOSOP on Thursday said the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, owners of the pipelines, had yet to stop the spills which “will likely affect more communities beyond Ogoni”.
President of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke, called the spills another testament to 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?” he asked.
The MOSOP leader 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 “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.
“The Ogoni area has witnessed several unrests over the years due to protests occasioned by massive pollution from Shell Petroleum, and 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,” a statement signed by Alex Akori, Secretary-General of MOSOP said.
(SaharaReporters)