Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — A fresh oil spill from a manifold operated by the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, SPDC, has rocked Rumuoduwere community, Elelenwo clan in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, causing panic in the area.
Although the cause of the spill is not yet ascertained, the spill which has been on since since last Wednesday, has made residents of the area to flee for safety over fear of a fire outbreak.
Conducting newsmen around the spill-impacted area, the Head and Paramount Ruler of Rumuoduwere community, Eze Kenneth Ndamati-Otto, urged SPDC to urgently clamp the spill, cleanup the environment and restore their livelihoods.
Ndamati-Otto who is the Eze Oha Oduwere IV, described the oil spill as unfortunate and accused SPDC of neglecting to clamp the spill, which he said was contributing to environmental disaster in the community.
He called on Governor Siminalayi Fubara to prevail on SPDC to do the needful, stressing that all efforts and appeals made to Shell in the past were unfruitful.
He said “Anytime they (SPDC) come to repair their pipe, they will sideline the Paramount Ruler. This spill has damaged our underground water, all our boreholes are out of use, because of the impact of Shell activities and they don’t care about how we (the community) feel.
“We are calling on the Rivers State government to call Shell to order because we are not happy with them. Shell should stop spilling oil in our land, and polluting our underground water. All our farmlands are now barren. Shell constantly destroys our water and our land without remorse.
“We are warning Shell for the last time to stop damaging our farmlands.”
Also speaking, an opinion leader in the community, Dr. Martin Enwuka, noted that the spill has already created a negative impact on the health of the people as it has contaminated their drinking water.
Enwuka called for urgent remediation of the impacted environment, to enable residents to return to their homes.
He added that since 1957 when Shell commenced operations in Rumuoduwere community, the company has failed in corporate social responsibility, particularly in the area of infrastructural development, employment, and scholarship among other incentives to members of the community.
Meanwhile, the management of SPDC is yet to react to the development as phone calls, text messages and emails sent to the Shell’s media relations officials were not replied.
