The people of the Ikensi community in Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State have been experiencing fear and uncertainty following the pollution of their water bodies and fishing zones due to the discharge of crude oil in the area.
The spill was discovered recently by some of the fishermen who operate in the area, but it has not stopped, as crude oil is spreading across the creeks, which are used as the primary source of drinking water and income generation by the community members.
The Chief of the Opu Nembe Kingdom, Chief Clarkson Obiakpa, decried the environmental catastrophe, noting that no emergency team had come to help several days after the spill was detected.
“Our rivers, our fishing sites and our water bodies are already very much affected by this. Crude oil is still being dumped into these water bodies,” he noted.
This most recent pollution event follows shortly after another spillage accident at the Atlantic coast, located near Okpoama, Diema, and Twon Brass in Brass Local Government Area, where an Aiteo vessel was allegedly involved in transferring crude that leaked large amounts of oil into the ocean.
According to the community leaders, multiple instances of such oil spills are causing destruction to aquatic life and putting the lives of fishers living within Bayelsa State’s coastal regions at stake.
They also highlighted the recent Santa Barbara Well 1 blowout incident that occurred in November 2021, which saw massive crude and gas spillages into the environment for 38 days.
However, no statement has been issued by either Aiteo Petroleum or NOSDRA regarding the recent pollution episode
