Yesterday, Oilwatch Africa, a nonprofit organization, raised an urgent alarm about two significant oil spills in Rivers communities. The spills occurred within a week and were attributed to an international oil company operating in the area.
Oilwatch Africa expressed deep concern over the destructive consequences of the spills, which resulted from oil pipelines traversing the affected communities. The organization criticized oil companies for their lack of commitment in maintaining their facilities to prevent such incidents.
The statement highlighted the worrisome pattern of expanding threats instead of focusing on remediating the existing harm. Moreover, the organization warned that ongoing investments in the fossil fuel sector and the continuous occurrence of oil spills posed a grave risk of pushing the world into a climate catastrophe, undermining the efforts made during climate negotiations.
The spills took place in Eteo community on June 13, 2023, from a pipeline owned by Shell, and in Oke-Olebo stream, the sole source of fresh water for the Eleme Local Government Area, on June 18, 2023. Oilwatch Africa stressed the importance of including these new spills in the ongoing cleanup process and called for accountability from the responsible parties.
Both the Director of Health of Mother Earth Foundation, Arc Nnimmo Bassey, and the Coordinator of Oilwatch Africa, Salome Nduta, expressed their dissatisfaction with the actions of oil companies in Nigeria and other parts of Africa.
