Delta: Oil Spills Ravage Creeks, Ponds, Farmland in Urhobo Communities
LAGOS MAY 5TH (URHOBOTODAY)-This is not the best of time for resident of Urhobo communities of Okpare-Olomu, Edjophe, Iwhrekan and Otor-Edo in Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State follow¬ing massive oil spill in the areas.
Report reaching URHOBOTODAY from community sources revealed that the spill emanated from a pipeline belonging to the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) and has been on for five days running.
They attributed the spill¬age to equipment failure but added that NPDC offi¬cials claimed it was due to activities of saboteurs.
Edjophe community Chairman, Mr College Ak¬poughegbe told our corre¬spondent that the spill has severely impacted all near¬by communities and fishing creeks in the area since the spill occurred last Friday.
It was gathered that offi¬cials of NPDC, Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR and the Delta State Government Tuesday car¬ried out a JIV to ascertain the true cause of the spill but the result was not immediately available.
When our correspondent on Wednesday took a trip to the area, the popular Okpare River in Delta State was massively littered with crude oil while farmlands belong¬ing to Iwhrekan, Edjophe and Otor-Edo communities have been ravaged.
I cannot understand why the communities are always blamed for vandalising pipelines. These pipes that have never been changed since they were put in the ground in the eighties, transport petroleum products at high speed or high pressure if you like are not meant to last forever.
I think accusing host communities of vandalism is just an excuse to hide negligence and corruption on the part of NNPC and the other oil majors with pipelines in the region.