The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has reported fresh and massive oil spills in parts of Ogoni.
The spills which affected the communities of Ogale, Aleto, Agbonchia, Onne, Okpaku, Alesa all in Eleme local government area of Ogoni and is still spreading has affected residential areas, farmlands and the surrounding waters and spreading further.
The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, owners of the pipelines is yet to stop the spill which will likely affect more communities beyond Ogoni.
President of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke, called the spill another testament of Shell’s lies and revealed that Shell had secretly been operating its facilities in Ogoni.
“If Shell claims that it is not operating the oilfields secretly in Ogoni, then how come we have such massive oil spills that affect several communities and have contaminated massive lands and waters in the area?”
The MOSOP leader said the spills are another testament of Shell’s sub-standards in operations management in Ogoni.
He noted that by now, Shell should have decommissioned its facilities in Ogoni going by the recommendations of the United Nations Environment Programme on Ogoni which Shell and the government claim to have been implementing since 2016.
The MOSOP leader regretted that there had been much insincerity on the part of Shell in the handling of and decommissioning of its facilities in Ogoni and called on the Nigerian authorities to introduce more severe penalties for oil spill cases and environmental pollution.
“Environment pollution has been encouraged in Nigeria because there are little or no consequences for the polluters.
This is something the government should strongly consider in the light of present realities where people’s lives are altered by constant pollution and no one is held to account” Nsuke said this morning.
The Ogoni area has witnessed several unrest over the years due to protests occasioned by massive pollution from Shell Petroleum, environmental and economic deprivations.
The people have called for the implementation of an Ogoni Development Authority to address their concerns and restore normal economic activities in the area.
