The Federal Government, yesterday, announced plans to institute stiffer punishments for companies involved in oil spillage in the country.
The government also said that the level devastation in the Niger Delta was massive and has planned to meet stakeholders in Ogoni land on the ongoing clean-up exercise to get their own assessment on how far government has gone.
The Minister of State for Environment, Mrs Sharon Ikeazor, made the disclosure at the weekly ministerial press briefing organized by the Presidential Media Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
She said the ministry was engaging other relevant government agencies to achieve this.
According to her, a bill is being worked out to amend the law establishing the National Oil Spillage Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) to build its capacity and give it “the needed teeth to bite.”
She said the operating company of the OML29 in Nembe, Bayelsa State has blamed the most recent oil spillage in the country on sabotage by the locals.
However, she announced that the Santa Barbara spillage has been brought under control after weeks the incident occurred with necessary personnel and equipment deployed to begin recovery and remediation efforts.
Ikeazor stressed the need to put an end to artisanal refineries, which she said had continued to cause pollution in the Niger Delta.
The minister also lamented the high rate of deaths from smoke, especially among women in the country, which she noted is the highest in the world.
She said something must be done about the ongoing gas flaring, noting that the country cannot be committed to zero net emission and be flaring gas at the same time.
On the high price of cooking gas which has resulted in the cutting down of trees to cook their food, the minister said, “I am extremely worried because the rate of cutting down trees has increased.
She said government is working hard and creating alternative for the people in the devastated Niger Delta area in order to move them away from further polluting the environment.
Similarly, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva has visited Opu Nembe to assess the level of damage caused Oil Mining License(OML) 29 oil spillage at Santa Barbara Oil field with an assurance to the people that President Muhammadu Buhari was on the side of the people and shares their concern.
Buhari, who is the Minister of Petroleum, had, last Tuesday, broken his silence over the ravaging oil spill, expressing worry on the level of destruction and gave Sylva the marching order to visit the site to ascertain the true position of things.
The oil well is one of the yet to be decommissioned oil wells inherited by Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production Company (AEEPCO), from Shell Petroleum Development Company(SPDC).
Sylva, who landed in Nembe in a helicopter, was accompanied by the federal representative for Nembe/Brass Federal constituency, Hon. Israel Sunny-Goli and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Nigerian Petroleum Upstream Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Mr Gbenga Komolafe.
In a brief interview, Sylva declared that Buhari was feeling the pains of the people.
“It is a very sad development but these things happen. They are operational hazards of the business. Mr President is very concerned personally himself and that is why he asks us his team to come and inspect and make sure that the appropriate action is taken to ameliorate the situation.
“It is not just me that feels their pain, Mr President feels their pain and that is why he personally instructed me and the CEO of the Upstream Regulatory Authority to come and actually assess the situation and take appropriate actions to ensure the people are taken care of.”
From the Nembe Jetty, Sylva and his entourage with military escort proceeded on a 30 minutes boat ride to the Santa Barbara Oil field.
However for safety concerns, the entourage had to stop within one kilometre to the leaking well head to assess the spill situation from a drone picture.
Speaking in an interview after assessing the situation, Sylva reiterated Buhari’s support for the people and commended their peaceful disposition.
He expressed satisfaction with the efforts being made by Aiteo to contain the spill and stop it completely.
“The President is very concerned with what is happening. You know what we are doing as a government in Ogoni. We don’t want that to happen in Nembe. It is an accident and nobody can stop an accident. But when an accident happens, we also want to see that steps are taken to correct things. As sent by the President, we have gone to the site and we can see that the company is making reasonable efforts to contain the spill. The company has assured that the spill would be contained. They have given us a commitment of two days to stop the spill.
“We would like to use this opportunity to thank the community for being peaceful and not taking laws into their hands. We are quite happy that they took this disposition. Mr President is always on the side of the people. We are not on the side of the company and we want to ensure the company does the right thing.”