Another Oil Spill Hits Ogoni Community

A new oil spill has occurred in Ebubu Community in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Eleme is one of the four Ogoni local government areas in the heart of more than five decades of dispute with Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) over signature crude oil spillage linked to the effect of the Nigerian Civil War.
Some eyewitnesses and community-based sources disclosed that the spill occurred last Friday night, February 10, with the spill point yet to be clamped as of the time of filing this report.
The community alleged that the spill may have been caused by equipment failure.
In a statement, the Executive Director of Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre, Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface, recalled that the affected Ebubu Community was in court with Shell Petroleum Development Company for about 32 years till 2021 when the company was compelled by the court to pay $111million (about N45.9billiin) in compensation over an oil spill that occurred on the same facility in the late 1960s during the Nigeria civil war.
The civil war lasted for about three years between 1967 and 1970.
Fyneface said that some members of the community leadership alerted the centre of the spill, which was confirmed to be true.
He said: “There is a need to address environmental concerns, seek ecological and environmental justice as well as campaign against environmental pollution.”
He claimed that a team from Shell was at the scene of the spillage to put out the fire before the next steps would be taken to clamp the spill point.
Effort to reach Shell’s spokesman in Port Harcourt, Michael Adande, was not successful, as his phone lines repeatedly failed to connect.