Nigeria Content Online

Government and
community officials have expressed worry over reports of persistent
oil-spill across the Niger-delta, Nigeria’s zone of oil exploration
activities. Oil-leakages and spillages of ranging quantity has been
reported in the last one month across the region, in states which
includes Bayelsa, Ondo,Akwa Ibom and Rivers.

At the weekend, an
association of 49 communities in the oil producing areas of Ondo State
called on the federal government to put in place a law that will make
it mandatory for all oil companies to always pay compensations to
victims of oil spills in the oil producing areas in the state. “Most
times when oil spills occurred, the oil companies always trade words
over which company is responsible for the spills,” said Wole Ogungbeje,
an official of one of the communities. “The spills always affect the
lives of the people of the area. Their water, farmland and fish are
always affected, living them at the mercy of these oil companies who
are avoiding their responsibilities.” He appealed to the state
government to compel the oil companies to visit communities in the
riverside area to access the extent of the effect of oil spills in the
affected area.

The Minister of Environment, John Odey, recently summoned officials
of ExxonMobil (parent company to Mobil Producing Nigeria) to a meeting
to discuss what the government said were a series of spills far
offshore, where militant attacks and sabotage are infrequent. Mobil has
also been at the heart of a controversy over recent spills in Akwa
Ibom. But the company said told NEXT that though there was oil spill in
Akwa Ibom, the volume was not as large as was reported. The company
also said it carries out its activities as a responsible corporate
citizen. “On May 1, a leak occurred in one of MPN’s offshore pipelines
more than 20 km offshore,” the company’s spokesperson, Nigel Cookey,
said. “MPN immediately isolated and depressured the line, shut in
production and notified regulatory authorities.”