OIL SPILL ALERT: NEW SPILL OCCURS IN OGONILAND
As part of Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre’s (YEAC-Nigeria) Crude Oil Spill Alert System (COSAS), the organization wishes to alert members of its network, the authorities, the media and the general public that an oil spill has occurred in Ebubu Community, Eleme Local Government Area (Ogoniland) of Rivers State.
Members of YEAC-Nigeria’s One Million Youth Volunteers Network of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters in the Niger Delta” in the community as well as some members of the community leadership informed Advocacy Centre on Friday, February 10, 2023 that the spill has been ongoing for the past three days and the spill point yet to be clamped to stop.
The spill according to the community sources is suspected to have been caused by equipment failure, subject to joint investigation visit (JIV) confirmation.
The reports also claimed that some members of the community are allegedly working clandestinically and Nicodemusly to cover up the oil spill for Shell on whose facility it occurred in return for personal aggrandizement and gains.
Advocacy Centre, a frontline youths and environmental advocacy organization in Nigeria that works with communities in the Niger Delta region to address environmental concerns, seek ecological and environmental justice as well as campaign against environmental pollution among others is in direct contact with members of the network in the community as well as some community leaders and would release more details about this new oil spill in Ebubu Community (Ogoniland) as soon as practicable.
It would be recalled that Ebubu Community was in court with Shell for about 32years till 2021 when the company paid about $111million (about N45.9billion) in compensation over an oil spill that occurred on the same Shell’s facility in the late 1960s during the Nigeria civil war that lasted between 1967-1970.
Keep a date with YEAC-NIGERIA for updates on this and related environmental and social issues in communities across the Niger Niger.
Signed,
FYNEFACE DUMNAMENE FYNEFACE,
Executive Director, YEAC-Nigeria.
10-02-2023