30th August, 2022
By Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt
Imminent explosion looms as residents of Bodo community in Gokana Local Government Area of Ogoniland in Rivers State are scooping fuel from gushing crude oil spill sites of the burst Trans-Niger Delta Pipeline (TNP).
The latest reports from the area show that villagers are taking turns to scoop the crude oil which is the second spill in the month of August.
The highly inflammable substance is capable of causing massive explosion.
The latest spill was reported to have occurred in Bodo in the late evening of Wednesday, August 24, 2022, while the first was August 2.
It would be recalled that an environmental rights group in the Niger Delta, Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria), had alerted on a fresh oil spill in Bodo Community in Gokana Local Government Area (Ogoniland) of Rivers State.
A statement signed by the centre’s Executive Director, Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface, said “members of YEAC-Nigeria’s grassroots monitors and advocacy team under the auspices of ‘One Million Youth Volunteers Network of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters in the Niger Delta’ reported that the new spill occurred in Bodo in the late evening of Wednesday, August 24, 2022.
The group said the August 2, 2022 oil spill from Shell’s facility which the standards of measurement was not known to the public was reported to have spilled only ‘five barrels’ of oil into the environment, blamed on equipment failure after Joint Investigation Visit (JIV).
The group said Shell accepted responsibility for the spill and that discussion for the payment of compensation and clean-up was currently ongoing.
Shell Petroleum Development Company says five barrels of crude oil which spilled into Bodo community in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State, was due to operational failure.
Spokesperson of the company, Michael Adande, said the impact of the spill was minimal.
This is according to the Joint Investigation Visit’s report by the host community, the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, NOSDRA, SPDC, and the Rivers State Ministry of Environment.
However, advocacy centre’s member in Bodo Community reported that the latest spill occurred at about 4:23am (local time) on August 25, and that the new spill occurred on the Trans Niger Delta Pipeline (TNP) in Bodo City as a result of equipment failure’.