Rivers Assembly flays slow IOCs’ response to oil spills

• Orders immediate remediation

The Rivers State House of Assembly has decried persistent oil spills in the state. It also condemned the slow response of International Oil Companies (IOCs) whenever spillages occur.

The lawmakers made the condemnation at the resumption of plenary, when an ad hoc committee on investigation of the Aleto Crude oil spillage, headed by the Deputy Speaker, Dumle Maol, submitted its reports.

Speaker of the House, Martin Amaewhule, in his submission at the end of the presentation, emphasised the negative impact oil spills have had on the environment, noting that environmental degradation often impact negatively on the people.

Amaewhule decried the continuous degradation of the environment by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) as a result of its exploration activities; warning that the state legislature will not sit back and watch the people suffer, because of nonchalant attitude of these companies.

The Speaker, who commended the committee for a thorough report, noted that, even before turning in its report, the committee ensured that it mediated between SPDC and host communities.

Amaewhule also disclosed that one of the major achievements of the committee is that it got SPDC to commence repair work immediately, while other issues are being considered.

Presenting the report earlier, Chairman of the committee, Dumle Maol, revealed that they found out, among other things, that there was a massive and devastating crude oil spillage on SPDC’s 28 Trans-Niger Pipeline (TNP) Right of way, Eleme Zone 2.

Maol said the committee also found that the pipeline was not on the ground surface, but buried five feet underground, explaining that a joint investigation has been completed and SPDC given access to the incident site and there is no security breach.

According to the report, SPDC has sent relief materials to the affected areas.