An environmentalist has again raised the alarm over two major oil spills from pipelines owned by Shell Petroleum, within one week.

One spill reportedly occurred from a pipeline in Eteo community on June 13, while the other occurred at Eleme Council of Rivers State on June 18 in Oke-Olebo stream, which is the only source of fresh water for the community.

The Executive Director of Health of the Mother Earth Foundation, Nnimmo Bassey, who raised the alarm in a statement, yesterday, in Abuja, lamented that with two major oil spills within a week, it was obvious oil companies were yet to show seriousness about ensuring that their facilities are in good working conditions.

He noted that rather than remediating the harm, oil companies were making more investments to expand the areas of threat.

Bassey, a member of Oilwatch Steering Committee, stated: “We have always advocated a cleaner environment and we charge the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) to take into account new oil spills that threaten to derail the ongoing cleanup process. Steps should be taken to ensure accountability by offending parties.”

The coordinator of Oilwatch Africa, Salome Nduta, expressed dissatisfaction with the action of oil companies in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa.

She said: “Recently at the just concluded Africa Energy Summit held in UK, it showed that Africa is not just a geographical location but it is also a cow that should be milked dry for the gains of her captors.”

She said polluters should be held accountable for loss and damage inflicted on communities in Africa.

The organisation called on the Nigerian government to take charge and ensure proper cleanup of polluted lands and payment of compensation for damage suffered.

“As a group, we further charge all African governments to invest in renewable energy, taking into consideration the true cost of extraction, which is causing more harm than good to her peoples.”