Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), has decried the haphazard cleanup of oil spills in Ikarama community located in Okordia Clan of Yenagoa local government area of Bayelsa State.
ERA/FoEN while lamenting the adverse impact of the oil spills in the area revealed that despite the cleanup claims, crude oil was found at the depth of one meter and above in the ground which falls within the areas where it carried out its investigation in Ikarama community.
Ikarama community is one of the communities that has been badly hit by oil spillages over the years. The community has recorded several oil spillages mostly caused by the Shell Petroleum Development Company [SPDC] and Nigerian Agip Oil Company [NAOC/Eni] — the two multinational oil companies operating in the community.
Investigation conducted by the ERA/FoEN revealed that SPDC has failed to properly cleanup the oil spills, hence putting the lives of the residents in the area at risk.
This was contained in a report released by the organisation and made available to The New Diplomat.
According to the report, research conducted in some farmlands in Ikarama community showed that crude oil was found in the ground at a depth of over one meter in an area previously impacted by oil spills, hence making cultivation of crops and other agricultural activities impossible.
The report further revealed that many of the farmlands in the community have been desserted due to the heavy presence of crude oil, which has made it impossible to grow crops.
Some of the farmers who spoke with the organisation lamented the situation which has affected their source of livelihood as well as health.
Former women leader of the community, Chief (Mrs.) Ayibakuro Warder said, “Our crops don’t do well again, particularly the cassava tubers. Sometimes when we plant it looks as if it is dying off. We change it again, with other stems. Plantain too. Sometimes the newly planted ones would die, and we must replace them. Tuber plants like cassava and yam no longer yield like times past; yam is getting rotten.”
The report also raised alarm over the health damage the persistent oil spill has been causing among residents in the community.
According to ERA/FoEN, findings have shown that there is an increasing case of cancer in the community. The report added that many people in the community have been consuming foods mixed with crude oil which is in turn exposing their body system to various kinds of illnesses.
Proscribing solutions to the challenges facing Ikarama, the organisation called on the Federal and Bayelsa State Governments to embark on scientific investigation (including environmental audit) on all oil spill sites in Ikarama and beyond, with a view to ascertaining the true situation of the environment.
The organisation also indicted Shell, insisting that the oil major was culpable in the environmental crime against the people of Ikarama community in Bayelsa.
