15 June 2013, Yenagoa – Residents of Ogboinbiri Community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa are fleeing their homes due to gas pollution caused by leakage from an oil rig.
Former Chairman of the Ogboinbiri Community Development Committee, CDC, Mr Newton Daniel, told newsmen in Yenagoa on Saturday that the incident occurred on Thursday night till late Friday.
“The gas leak which started at about 8pm on Thursday, came from an oil rig owned by Agip Oil Company and covered the whole area. Everybody fled till late Friday,’’ Daniel said.
He said that the leadership of the CDC visited the scene shortly after the incident and met with some of the workers on the site, who confirmed that there had been gas leakage from the rig.
Daniel said the community had dispatched a delegation to meet with Agip officials, adding that the company had not responded as at the time of this report.
The Project Officer of the Environmental Rights , ERA, a non-governmental organisation, Mr Alagoa Morris said the group had received report of the leakage.
“I have received the report of the gas leakage, which they say is very serious and had forced many people in the area to flee their homes due to the pollution,’’ he said.
He stated that the report reaching ERA indicated that the gas leakage was from a rig working on an oil wellhead in the community and promised to visit the scene.
The spokesman for Agip Oil Company, Mr Tajudeen Adigun, declined to comment on the matter on phone.
– Vanguard Newspaper