08 May 2013, Awka – Thousand of crude oil drums abandoned by alleged oil bunkerers and illegal refinery operators are littering the banks of River Niger, along Ogbaru axis of Anambra State.
Those involved in illegal refining activities in the area were dislodged from business when a combined team of Nigerian Army and Navy raided the area recently, forcing them to abandon their tools.
Secretary to Anambra State government, SSG, Mr. Oseloka Obaze, said, Tuesday, that officials of the state and Federal Governments were already discussing with security agencies on how to evacuate the abandoned crude oil that littered the banks of River Niger in Ogbaru riverine parts of the state.
Obaze, who visited the affected area, lamented that the state inland waterways and agricultural farmlands risked massive pollution if the oil remnants were not evacuated before this year’s flood season set in, regretting that the bunkering activities shifted from the Niger Delta into Ogbaru environs of Anambra State when the Nigeri Delta became too hot for them.
He said the state government was also considering direct legislation or amending the extant criminal code in order to expand the scope of the law on bunkering and enhance existing federal laws.