The Zonal Director, Port Harcourt Office, National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), Mr Cyrus Nkangwung has alarted members of oil bearing communities on the need to resist the entry of illegal oil bunkerers into their communities.
Nkangwung gave the warning in an interview with newsmen to enlighten the public on the functions of NOSDRA.
He raised the alarm that operators of illegal refineries were now moving into the communities and warned that there were dangers to the lives of the people of those communities if they were not resisted and asked to leave their communities.
“These boys have moved close to the communities, they are no more in the creeks, they are now in the communities, if you go to a place like Isakep, you see their refineries are planted there, so it calls for a collective effort and responsibility,” he lamented.
He noted that NOSDRA was responsible for the management of oil spills, saying when a spill occurs, “a joint investigation team is put together to determine the cause and volume of spill into the community, the cause is important because that would determine weather the community would have compensation or not.”
He observed that if a company operated within a community without any spills within a year, that community benefited from the profits of the oil company for that year, “and that stabilizes the community.”
Nkangwung regretted, however, that available records showed that, Rivers and Delta States ranked tops in cases of illegal crude oil refining in the Niger Delta.
According to him, “today illegal refining is predominately in Rivers and Delta states; in fact, some states like Bayelsa State, you may think you have them, but to a large extent, you see that there are very few cases.”
Nkangwung called for urgent establishment of modular refineries in the Niger Delta, saying the problems associated with oil theft in the region would only come to an end or be drastically reduced if modular refineries come in place.

Tonye Nria-Dappa