Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — Following the unabated oil and gas leaks at Aiteo’s and Conoil’s oil fields in Bayelsa State, the Health of Mother Earth Foundation, has commenced training of fishermen in the Niger Delta on coastal environmental monitoring and advocacy.
The capacity building programme, held in Yenagoa on Friday, is coming amidst ongoing oil and gas leaks at Aiteo’s oilfields in Nembe and Conoil’s oil block at Sangana in Brass Local Government.
Lead, Fossil Politics, HOMEF, Mr Cadmus Ateke-Enade, speaking to participants, comprising of fishermen, fisherwomen among others, explained that pollution from oil leaks poses great danger to public health.
Enade stated that HOMEF aims to strengthen the knowledge base of participants to engage in evidence based monitoring of the environment by collecting data in an empirical way.
He said that beyond health factors, the pollution from oil and gas was a threat to the traditional fishing occupation of coastal communities in the Niger Delta region.
Also speaking an Environmental Rights Advocate, Mr Morris Alagoa, who spoke on monitoring techniques urged the participants to harness the potentials on their smartphones which are embedded with valuable features.
Alagoa explained that smartphones have inbuilt capacity to indicate the precise location and coordinates of pollution incident sites which were required to give credibility to the report.
Morris announced that the ongoing leak at Aiteo’s OML29 was made public by a video footage shot by a fisherman who shared the incident on social media.
He commended HOMEF for its advocacy for the environment by conducting the second training within the year in Bayelsa in addition to similar campaigns in other states of the Niger Delta region.
High point of the training was when participants share their experiences with participants from other communities to safeguard the environment.
A participant from Koluama I in Southern Ijaw Local Government, Chief Arthur Frank, said that the Funiwa fields where the rig blow out of 2012 occurred was still releasing gas bubbles till date.
Also sharing his experience, the Chairman, United Fishing Union of Sangana, Mr Ikonikumo Noel, lamented that the ongoing gas leak at Conoil’s facility in Sangana has rendered fishermen jobless.
“The leakage and pollution has polluted the waters and made the environment too toxic for fishes to survive and we were forced to leave the waters, meanwhile Conoil only evacuated oil workers and left the community to grapple with the situation.”
