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51 Days After, Agip Oil Spillage Remains Unattended To, Community Laments

Published

4 years ago

March 24, 2022

… Community Cries Out For Relief Materials

…HOMEF Demands Immediate Clamping Of Leakage, Compensation To Residents

Bearly two months an oil spillage owned Agip Oil Company occurred at Lasukugbene in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, the spills remain unattended to, natives of the community lament.

Recall that on 24th of February 2021, a similar spill occurred in Ogboibide community in Southern Ijaw where an Agip pipeline at OML63 had a gas leak and the company could only clamp the leakage site after much waste of time.

The continuous spill has exposed health of residents of the community to danger thereby subjecting them to suffering, hardship, hunger, etc.

INFO DAILY reports that Lasukugbene community plays host to manifold pipelines and oil wells belonging to Agip Oil Company which has been operating in the community since 1974.

Lasukugbene, a predominately fishing community, has no hospital or health care facilities and relies mostly on local herbs for treatment of their ailments. They lack all basic social amenities.

According to a statement by Kome Odhomor, Media and Communication Officer, Health of Mother Earth Foundation, HOMEF, a recent visit by her organistion in collaboration with Environmental Rights Action, ERA, to ascertain the level of damage done to the community by the spills, reveals that fifty-one days after the spill was recorded, no Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) has been officially carried out by the relevant authorities.

Odhomor, in the statement stated that the people of Lasukugnene lamented that the oil spill has destroyed their rivers and lands, adding that the river, which is their only source of potable water and their crops have been contaminated by the oil spill.

The statement stated that some community members described their ordeal, just as they expressed sadness over Agip’s negligence and government’s failure to regulate better and to bring succor their way.

Secretary of the community, Mr. Valiant Jackson, who spoke to the environmental organisation revealed that the spill which was discovered on 3rd February 2022 had occurred over a month earlier.

“Yesterday, 18th March, Agip sent their team to clamp the erupted pipeline without informing the community leadership or contacting anyone from the community. When we saw them and approached them to find out what they were doing , Agip accepted that the spill was actually caused by equipment failure, saying that they were doing their best to ensure that the spill was contained.

“Since the operation of Agip in the community, the only thing Agip has provided for the community is a water tank that is not working. We have no hospital, except for a small healthcare facility built by the local government. The equipment in the health centre was bought by the community and the only staff in the health centre comes only once in a while, usually during statewide immunization campaigns,.” Jackson said.

Another community woman, Josephine Tarilla, stated: “We are suffering. There are no standard healthcare facilities, water, school or light. We can no longer fish in our rivers, and the oil spill has destroyed all our fishing tools and nets.

“We call on Agip and the government to come to our aid. We are suffering as a result of the oil spill from the Agip pipeline which passes through our community. We need help and relief materials to reduce our sufferings. Since the spill occurred, almost two months now, we observe that there are rashes all over our bodies when we use the water from the river to bathe. We do not have alternative source of water. The spill is killing us here!”

“Since morning I have been on the water for fish and all I could get is this small catch of fingerlings. My nets are all soaked with oil. I cannot use them again for fishing. We are calling on Agip and the government to come to our aid to stop the problem we are facing in the community,” lamented Betty, a community woman.

Cadmus Atake-Enade, Project Lead, Fossil Politics, Health of Mother Earth Foundation who was part of the visit stated that “the spill blanketed the community’s river and swamps. It was an absolutely disheartening and scary sight.

“I wonder if there is hope for the common Niger Delta man. Communities in this region are suffering daily, there should be an immediate health and environmental audit of this place and the clean-up process should begin.”

HOMEF therefore demanded an immediate clamping of the leakage on the pipelines and replacement of all rusted pipelines in the areas.

The organisation also calls for a man health audit in the area, and the entire Niger Delta as well as payment of adequate compensations for harms suffered.

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Headline

FULL LIST: US To Review Green Cards From 19 ‘Countries Of Concern’ After Washington Shooting

Published

1 day ago

November 29, 2025

Editor

The Trump administration announced on Thursday that it will review the immigration status of all permanent residents, or “Green Card” holders, from Afghanistan and 18 other countries following the attack on National Guard troops in Washington, D.C.

U.S. officials identified the suspect in Wednesday’s shooting as a 29-year-old Afghan national who previously worked alongside American forces in Afghanistan.

The individual was granted asylum earlier this year, not permanent residency, according to AfghanEvac, an organisation that assists Afghans resettled in the United States after the Taliban takeover in 2021.

“I have directed a full-scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern,” said Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), on X.

The review follows a June executive order from President Trump classifying 19 countries as “of Identified Concern.”

The order banned entry for nearly all nationals from 12 countries, including Afghanistan. The full list of these countries is:

Afghanistan

Myanmar

Chad

Congo-Brazzaville

Equatorial Guinea

Eritrea

Haiti

Iran

Libya

Somalia

Sudan

Yemen

A partial travel ban applies to seven additional countries, though some temporary work visas remain allowed: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.

Headline

Romanian Defence Minister Quits After Admitting Error In Academic Record

Published

1 day ago

November 29, 2025

Editor

Romania’s defence minister resigned on Friday after saying he made a “mistake” on his CV about his university education, as controversy swirled over alleged lies on his resume.

Ionut Mosteanu – who has admitted to writing on his CV that he graduated from a university he never attended – said he did not want the row “to distract” the NATO member at a time when it and Europe are “under attack from Russia”.

Romania has repeatedly seen drone fragments fall on its soil since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, and reported a number of drone incursions.

On Tuesday, a drone crashed in eastern Romania, which borders Ukraine.

Romania has also accused Moscow of “hybrid attacks”, including meddling in presidential elections last year that were subsequently annulled.

“Today, I resigned from my position as minister of national defence,” Mosteanu said in a Facebook post, adding he wanted the country to be focused on its “difficult mission”.

“Romania and Europe are under attack from Russia. Our national security must be defended at all costs,” he added.

Mosteanu had come under pressure after a media investigation published on Thursday revealed that he wrote in a CV that he graduated from a university which he did not actually attend.

That same day he apologised for what he called “a mistake”.

“In a CV I quickly put together in 2016 using a template I found online, there is a mistake that I admit embarrasses me. I didn’t pay much attention to these details at the time,” he said on Facebook.

Mosteanu was appointed defence minister in June of this year, when a new pro-European government was formed after months of political turmoil.

Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said in a press release that he would propose economy and tourism minister Radu Miruta take over the defence portfolio in the interim.

AFP

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Russia Insists Ukraine Must Cede Land Or Face Continued Military Push

Published

2 days ago

November 27, 2025

Editor

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that he would end his Ukraine offensive if Kyiv withdrew from territory Moscow claims at its own — otherwise his army would take it by force.

The Russian army has been slowly but steadily grinding through eastern Ukraine in costly battles against outnumbered and outgunned Ukrainian forces.

Washington has meanwhile renewed its push to end the nearly four-year war, putting forward a surprise plan that it hopes to finalise through upcoming talks with Moscow and Kyiv.

“If Ukrainian forces leave the territories they hold, then we will stop combat operations,” Putin said during a visit to Kyrgyzstan. “If they don’t, then we will achieve it by military means.”

Russia controls around one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory. The issue of occupied land, which Kyiv has said it will never cede, is among the biggest stumbling blocks in the peace process.

Another important issue in the talks are Western security guarantees for Ukraine, which Kyiv says are needed to prevent Moscow from invading again in the future.

Washington’s original plan — drafted without input from Ukraine’s European allies — would have seen Kyiv withdraw from its eastern Donetsk region and the United States de facto recognise the Donetsk, Crimea and Lugansk regions as Russian.

The US pared back the original plan over the weekend following criticism from Kyiv and Europe, but has not yet released the new version.

Putin, who has seen the new plan, said it could be a negotiation starter.

“Overall, we agree that it could form the basis for future agreements,” he said of the latest draft, which the US is thought to have shortened to about 20 points.

US negotiator Steve Witkoff was expected in Moscow next week to discuss the revised document, Putin said.

US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is meanwhile due to visit Kyiv later this week, Ukraine’s top presidential aide Andriy Yermak said.

– ‘Little can be done’ –

In his remarks Thursday, Putin repeated the claim that Russia had encircled the Ukrainian army in Pokrovsk and Myrnograd in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region — the most fiercely embattled area and a key target for Moscow’s forces.

“Krasnoarmeysk and Dimitrov are completely surrounded,” he said, using the Russian names for the cities.

Moscow was also advancing in Vovchansk and Siversk, as well as approaching the important logistic hub of Guliaipole, he added.

The Russian offensive “is practically impossible to hold back, so there is little that can be done about it”, Putin said.

Ukraine has denied Pokrovsk and Myrnograd are encircled, insisting its forces continue to hold the enemy along the front line.

Putin also questioned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s legitimacy and said signing any agreement with him would be legally “almost impossible” at the moment, a suggestion that has drawn groans from Kyiv and its allies.

According to data analysed by AFP from the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russian forces have conquered an average of 467 square kilometres (180 square miles) each month in 2025 — a step up from 2024.

Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the worst armed conflict in Europe since World War II.

The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people and forced millions to flee their homes.