04/02/2025
Press Release III February 3, 2025
OIL SPILL WELCOMES ENVIRONMENTAL VARSITY TO OGONILAND
Crude oil spill has been reported in Ogale in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State, today, February 3 thus welcoming the Federal University of Environmental Technology, Ogoni, established today by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR through his assent to a bill passed by the National Assembly sponsored by Senator Barinaadaa Mpigi representing the Rivers South-East Senatorial District.
Members of the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre's (YEAC-Nigeria) "One Million Youth Volunteers Network of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters in the Niger Delta" in the area reported to the organisation that the oil spill allegedly occurred today at the Ogale Manifold.
The volunteers also reported to YEAC-Nigeria that the manifold spill, after it filled the underground pits, started flowing freely to the pipeline right of way that separated Lot-1 of the Ogoni cleanup Project of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) of the Federal Ministry of Environment in Ogale.
The volunteers said they suspected that the spill at the manifold owned and operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) of Nigeria, a company that the community has been in a United Kingdom High Court with till date over previous oil spill is caused by equipment (valve) failure while contactors were carrying out maintenance work on the facility today.
The volunteers reported and decried the associated violence and application of force by the Eleme Youth President, Mr. Walter Olaka during his by invading the spill site with alleged armed boys, confiscating trucks that were being used to evacuate the spilled crude oil, beating up some of the drivers whose trucks were already seized and parked at the Eleme Council Secretariat and injuring some persons in the process including Mr. Gift Gongogo Nene who was allegedly daggered on the head by some of the boys reported to have invaded the scene with dangerous small arms and light weapons including guns.
While calling for Police investigation into the incidents with a view of restoring peace among the warring parties, the Advocacy Centre, through its Crude Oil Spill Alert System (COSAS), in a statement in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital signed by its Executive Director, Dr. Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface called on the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) to carry out a joint investigation visit (JIV) on the spill site, invoke sections of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), 2021 and ensure that containment and clean-up are done with adequate compensation paid to those whose economic crops are impacted by the spill in the area.
DR. FYNEFACE DUMNAMENE FYNEFACE
Executive Director, YEAC-Nigeria.
03-02-2025.
