Over the years, communities in the Niger Delta have continued to experience environmental pollution due to oil spillage from ruptured pipelines.
In an interview with an environmentalist, Andah Wai-Ogusu, he said the dangers of oil spillage on the environment are too numerous to mention.
“Most of the pipelines have lost their integrity because most of them were buried as far back as when oil was found in the Niger Delta and till date, some of them haven’t been replaced or changed.
The Riverine areas in creek communities in Delta, Bayelsa, Cross River and Rivers states that are surrounded by flood waters are mostly affected as a result of the intrusion of saline water from the ocean which ruptures the pipes and pollutes the water.
When these chemical substances are released into the water, they threaten the micro and macro organisms in the water and affect sea food production.
This is the reason why Nigeria cannot compete with other multi national companies owned by the Chinese and Japanese.
Oil spillage can also affect life forms, mangrove vegetations, wild life, primary forest and instantly, they start dying.
Man is hugely affected because they depend on these food chains for their survival, so, they end up consuming contaminated foods which further lead to medical ailments”
Recently, this issue has aggravated the sufferings of the residents of the areas in question and have driven people out of their primary occupation and areas of residence.
The environmentalist, called on the state government to put more efforts to ensure that there is adequate control measures in preventing oil spill.
“There should be increased level of surveillance to ensure that these infrastructure that carry these products are constantly monitored and fixed as soon as any problem is dictated.
Also, the spill should be prevented from reaching the shore in order to reduce the impact it can have on marine life.
Lastly, there should be immediate speed in the degradation of any unrecovered oil.”
