A fresh oil spill has destroyed farmlands and boreholes in Rumuoduwere community in Elelenwo clan, Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The spill on Sunday, 25 August was allegedly from a Shell Petroleum Development Company facility and has the community members leaving the affected area.
Speaking to newsmen shortly after inspecting the area, on Monday, an opinion leader in the community, Martin Enwuka, berated Shell for its longstanding negligence as he lamented the negative impact of the spill.
Enwuka said, “ Since 1957, Shell has been operating in Rumuoduwere community in Elelenwo, Obio/Akpor Local Government Area. Shell has not been doing anything, you cannot see anything to show that Shell’s presence is in Rumuoduwere here. You won’t see anything. Shell has been spilling oil for the past three years now.
“And because of this, anytime they come to repair the pipe, they won’t see the paramount ruler or Rumuoduwere community people. They’ll sideline us and our people are not happy. This spill has damaged the underground water. All our boreholes here are out of use.
“They’ve been drilling boreholes, people have been drilling boreholes. If you drill 150m today, tomorrow you’ll drill 200m. Every time, people are changing their boreholes because of what Shell is doing. They don’t care to know how we feel. They don’t care.”
Continuing, he called on the state and federal governments to prevail on Shell to take responsibility, saying, “We call on the Rivers State Government and the Federal Government to warn Shell, because we’re not happy with them, to stop spilling oil on our lands. All our farmlands are destroyed, everywhere is out, and we are not farming in that area again.
“They constantly destroy our water; destroying our land without compensation. They don’t have any feelings for us. If you say, “Okay, come and see the community, tell us the way forward’, they will say never.
“So, we’re warning them for the last time to stop damaging our land. They should stop polluting our waters, especially our underground water.
We are not happy with them. Even to come and see us, tell us, okay see o, sorry o, see, see the way, they don’t do anything. So we’re not happy with them.”
When contacted for reaction, the SPDC’s spokesperson, Michael Adande, said he was away on leave and not familiar with the matter as. He however referred us to his colleague, Dayo Elusakin, who asked that we should call him at 9am on Tuesday, 27 August.
