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Accuse Heritage Company, Security Agencies, Govt of colluding with illegal bunkerers
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Bemoan Environmental Pollution, Insecurity
As Nigerian economy continues to bleed from the losses the country incurs daily from Crude oil theft in the Niger Delta, women from the oil-producing community of Igbide in Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State, have sent an SOS message to the State government and relevant agencies drawing their attention to the insecurity and environmental menace which illegal bunkerers constitute in the area.
Igbide Community plays host to several oil wells and network of pipelines that deliver crude oil to major flowstations in Isokoland for onward supply to the Forcados oil export terminal.
Staging a peaceful demonstration, the community women numbering over a hundred, converged in front of the Oroni oil flowstation being operated by Heritage Oil Company, singing protest songs as they condemned the unwholesome activities of illegal bunkerers in the locality.
The women who complained that the smoke emitting from the various bunkering sites close to the company’s premises, noted that it was constituting environmental hazard, just as they also kicked against incessant shooting of guns by suspected illegal bunkerers, thus creating an atmosphere of insecurity amongst the residents of the community.
The protesters who carried placards with different inscriptions such as ‘Enough is Enough’, ‘We cannot continue with this anymore’, ‘Stop the air pollution’, ‘Stop the shooting’, ‘Make the environment safe for all, Save our Soul’, also accused the operator of the flow station, Heritage Company, Security agencies and the Delta State government of colluding with the oil thieves, as according to them, their attention has been drawn to the menace without action taken.
Addressing newsmen at the gate of the flowstation, the President-General of the Igbide Community, Chief Egbaoghene Ugolo, who accompanied the protesting women, said that the illegal activities of the hoodlums was constituting environmental pollution, pointing at the thick black smoke billowing into the sky in the nearby bush, as being from the illegal bunkerers’ site.
He said: “If you look at the background very well, the thick smoke behind us is from the bunkering activities
“And for a very long time this community has been complaining and I have with me a letter that was written and addressed to the governor of Delta state, Sen. Ifeanyi Okowa and it was acknowledged, to the local government chairman of Isoko south and the 181 Battalion.
“We have complained severally of this bunkering activities, our women no longer go to their farms for fear of being killed, they can not longer harvest their farm produce.
“We go to bed here and wake up with fear because of their incessant shooting from the evenings to the mornings, in the morn various sicknesses are on the increase as our water has been polluted with sooth.
“The women are tired, the entire community is fed up, we have complained to the governor, the local government chairman and the 181 Battalion.We are crying, we are calling on the state governor, Sen. Ifeanyi Okowa to come to our rescue.
“We are calling on Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to come to our rescue, we are also calling on the security agencies to do their job and put an end to the bunkering activities so that our mothers, our wives can access their their farmlands.”
Also speaking at the occasion, a community women leader, Chief Mrs Grace Egwero, lamented that the activities of the illegal Bunkerers have led to the pollution of their potable/rain water which is no longer fit for washing of clothes let alone drinkable.
Egwero also alleged that the air and water pollution in the community has also caused an outbreak of diseases just as she lamented that their farms have been destroyed by the excessive heat from the bunkering exercise.
“Since the inception of this bunkering activities in our bush, we have been suffering, we can no longer use the rain water to wash because of pollution
“At night the smoke from the bunkering activities has destroyed our farmlands and environment and sicknesses are the increase.
“Our farming activities have stopped because of oil bunkering activities and our crops are now rotting away.
“The smoke from the oil bunkering is polluting our environment and this is not good for the health of our people.” She said.
The women vowed to shut down oil exploration in the area should the company and security agents failed to take steps to fish out those behind the illegal bunkering activities and also bring same to a halt.
It would be recalled that the Nigerian government recently raised alarm over huge decline in revenue from sale of crude due to oil theft.
The Group Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited, Mele Kyari had last week revealed that Nigeria currently loses $1.9 billion monthly due to the activities of oil vandals.
The New Diplomat had reported that Kyari further noted that the massive oil theft going on in the country has made it difficult for the country to meet its OPEC production quantum of 1.99 million barrels per day with the current production level of 1.4 million barrels per day which is currently being threatened by the activities of economic saboteurs.
