Residents of Eleme in Rivers State have expressed concern over fresh oil spill in Okulu River in Eleto, in Eleme Local Government Area of the State.

The residents have therefore urged the State and Federal Government to protect their right to life and clean environment by getting the polluters sanctioned and remediating the environment.

Speaking on the development, the Zonal Director of the National Oil Spill, Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) Ime Ekanem, who confirmed that the parties concerned have carried out environmental assessment at the scene of the spill stated that the report of the spill is not yet ready.

Some residents of Eleme who also went for the impact assessment with the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) said, the effect on the spill was enormous.

A community source, Osaro Precious, said the impact of the pollution has damaged all their farmlands, livestock and aquatic habitats.

An environmentalist, Fyneface Dumnamene, urged oil companies to always carry out proper maintenance on their facilities and installations.

Fynface said The oil firm concerned should immediately move in to remediate the spills in the environment and pay adequate compensation to the people whose sources of livelihood have been damaged.

” One will think that since they are divesting across the country, their dilapidated pipelines that are now bursting and polluting the environment would have been addressed to prevent oil spills into the fragile Ogoni and Niger Delta environment ”

‘We expect that new spills should not be introduced into the environment because you cannot leave the tap running while also carrying out the cleanup” he added.

Recall that there had been series of oil spills in the Ogoni axis of the state. In September last year, a heavy spill was recorded in Bodo community in Gokana Local Government Area of the State

Also, a JIV report revealed within the period revealed that Shell spilled five barrels of crude oil into Bodo community on August 2. 2022.