Youths drawn from Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State on Monday barricaded ExxonMobil gates in Ibeno to protest a fresh oil spill which polluted the water bodies of the affected communities.
This is as the Director General, National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, Chukwuemeka Woke, who was on an operational visit to the affected areas, sued for peace among the protesting youths.
PUNCH Metro reports that the spill which occurred in the early hours of Thursday negatively impacted more than 27 coastal communities, cutting across Ibeno, Esit Eket and Onna local government areas.
The youths who had stormed the premises of ExxonMobil on Friday sustained the protest on Monday, beating drums, dancing throughout the day and chanting solidarity songs.
The village head of Mkpanah, Ubong Denis Essenem, who spoke while receiving the NOSDRA DG in his palace, lamented the incessant spillages allegedly by ExxonMobil in the area.
He expressed disappointment that each time there was a spillage, ExxonMobil would come out to say it was not their crude, adding that there is no other major oil company in the area as other operators are marginal fields that operate upland.
“This is not the first time a protest is going on here. This is to ensure that ExxonMobil will not shirk its responsibility of cleaning up the environment. For the past year, there have been spillages like this over three times but they (ExxonMobil) will deny them.
“We don’t have any major oil company than ExxonMobil. The other ones are marginal fields, in the upland and if there are spillages, the spill will go into the farmlands, but ExxonMobil which operates on the high sea with very high current will keep giving us flimsy excuses, lying to us that it’s not their oil.
“The Federal Government has done well to have appointed a square peg in a square hole in the person of Chukwuemeka Woke. The DG knows what is oil, oil is like kerosene. The moment it drops on water, everybody will know.
“I thank God that the youths always listen to us, otherwise it wouldn’t have been possible for you to come in here”, the monarch said.
He therefore called for an immediate cleanup of the environment in accordance with the provisions of the law.
“Mobil keeps giving us excuses to wait whereas the law says that they should clean up the environment within 24 hours, whether it is their crude or not,” he said.
Speaking, the youth leader of Mkpanah community, Mr Isokobo Abraham, said that they had resorted to fishing because of lack of employment but that they could no longer go into the sea due to the constant spillages.
Responding, the DG NOSDRA sued for peace among the youths promising to look into their grievances.
He said his visit was not to indict any oil company but to collect samples and identify the spiller, assuring that any company indicted would do the needful.
“Let me assure you on behalf of Mr President, Bola Tinubu, that this administration is determined to protect our environment, our people and to do the needful in every ramification. When you were talking, you talked about NOSDRA. Let me also inform you that this is a new management of NOSDRA; I’m just barely two months old in office.
“We are not here to indict any oil company, ours is to take samples and identify the spiller and when we identify the spiller, trust me, we will ensure that whosever is responsible will do the needful,” Woke said.
Though the Public Affairs Manager of ExxonMobil, Ogechukwu Udeagha, could not pick up his calls as of the time of filing this report, he had earlier told our correspondent that “there is no operational upset from any of our facilities.”
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