Fishing communities in Akwa Ibom have expressed delight over the acquisition of oil spill response vessel by the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA).

Some of  the fishermen who spoke to newsmen on Tuesday in Eket commended the federal government for providing the vessel to NOSDRA.

Mr Peter Idabor, NOSDRA’s Director General, had last week announced in Abuja at a contingency conference on oil spill that the agency acquired the vessel.

Chief Inyang Ekong Secretary, Akwa Ibom Chapter of Artisan Fishermen Association of Nigeria (ARFAN), said: “The fishing communities commend the government for providing NOSDRA with the equipment to perform its statutory responsibilities.’’

He said that the vessel would help in reducing the impact of oil spills to the barest minimum and bring relief to the coastal dwellers, who depended on sea food.

“As artisan fishermen, we thank the federal government for acquiring this vessel to put an end to a situation where NOSDRA depends on the facilities of the spillers’ to access spill site.

“The oil companies would usually mop up the oil before allowing the regulators access, now that they have their own vessel the response time to spill incidents will be drastically reduced,” Ekong said.

He recalled that fishermen in Akwa Ibom had contended with several incidents of oil spill from the Qua Iboe Oil fields without any compensation from the operator.

Mr Bassey Nkanang, President of ‘Afigh Iwaad Ekid’, a socio-cultural youth group in Akwa Ibom, said acquisition of the vessel would enhance the efficiency and independence of NOSDRA and also ensure its independence.

“We welcome this development and urge NOSDRA to explore collaboration with the oil communities in the discharge of its responsibilities.

“We can no longer be bystanders in things that affect our environment, we have resolved to step up our involvement to ensure that victims of oil spills get justice, and we shall work with NOSDRA to ensure that they get an independent view,” Nkanag said.

In his reaction, Obong Esenem Ukot, Village Head of Atia community in Ibeno, operational base of Mobil Producing Nigeria, said the community was happy with NOSDRA’s preparedness to deal with oil spills.

“We have suffered untold hardship from the operations of Mobil in our neighbourhood and the only thing we can show for being an oil producing community is the degradation of our land and waters where we fish.