Headline

Nembe Oil Spillage: Ijaw Diaspora Council Demands $500,000 Compensation For Impacted Communities

Published

4 years ago

November 25, 2021

…Slams Aiteo/NNPC For Flimsy Excuses

By Abigail Enenyi

Group, Ijaw Diaspora Council, IDC, has demanded immediate compensation of at least $500,000 from Aiteo group and the NNPC to the over 40 communities impacted by the Santa Barbara South field, OML 29 oil and gas well blowout at Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

The group said this amount should be used as initial response to the spill and getting them to gett some food stuffs as a way of survival in this trying time, stressing that it shouldn’t be counted as communities’ claim in the future.

A statement signed by Technical Advisor to the group, Prof Rick Steiner, a copy of which he made available to our correspondent electronically, decried the lackadaisical attitude of Aiteo, NNPC, and other responsible parties towards the OML 29 oil and gas well blow out.

Steiner, a Professor in Anchorage Alaska, USA, who has worked for decades on oil spill issues globally, including in the Niger Delta, raised the alarm that the spill caused by the blow-out has continued for over 15 days, releasing a minimum of 150,000 barrels of toxic hydrocarbons into environment, adding that the effects have been serious, extensive and long lasting.

“I estimate that the flow rate from the failed well is at least 10,000 barrels of toxic hydrocarbons (methane and crude oil) per day, and possibly twice that. Thus, after 15-20 days of continuous flow, the spill has already released a minimum of 150,000 barrels – 200,000 barrels of toxic hydrocarbons into the sensitive mangrove ecosystem in Nembe LGA, and possibly twice that much. Even by international standards, this constitutes a major hydrocarbon spill, and its impacts are likely to be serious, extensive and long lasting,” he laments.

Speaking further on the compensation, the Prof said, “This initial compensation will allow the community to purchase alternative food resources during the spill (as fish from the spill area are contaminated and must not be caught and consumed); purchase Personal Protective Equipment (PPE); and conduct its overall response to this emergency.”

Steiner, who debunked claims that the blow-out was caused by sabotage and that the environmental damage is minimal, further demanded that Aiteo/NNPC to immediately “kill the blow-out and retain the failed well head structure for independent analysis to determine the cause of the blow-out.”

He added that, “For Aiteo to assert that environmental damage will be minimal is equally unsupportable, as a credible, scientific environmental damage assessment has not been conducted. In my experience with such major spills in the Niger Delta and elsewhere, the damage will be serious, extensive, and long lasting. And the company’s claim that the hydrocarbon outflow is composed of 80% methane and 20% crude oil needs independent corroboration.”

The statement therefore called on the Federal Government to convene an independent inquiry to ascertain the cause, response, and impact of this major oil spill and likewise to prevent future occurrence.

It further recommended: “Aiteo/NNPC must immediately deploy sufficient oil spill containment and cleanup equipment and personnel to collect as much of the spilled hydrocarbon pollutant as possible, hiring local community members as possible. This is clearly a Tier III oil spill (the largest category), well beyond the capability of local cleanup assets such as Clean Nigeria Associates, and Aiteo/NNPC should contract Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL) in Southampton UK to conduct a large-scale Tier III spill response.

“Aiteo/NNPC, Bayelsa State, and the federal government must agree to support a technical advisor for the Ijaw communities to join the official Joint Investigation Team (JIT).

“Aiteo/NNPC must immediately commission an independent, scientific environmental damage assessment by a credible, independent scientific institution.

“Aiteo must preserve all evidence, including documents, video and photographs, and actual equipment (e.g. the failed Christmas Tree structure) that may be relevant to determining the cause of the wellhead failure and spill.

“Aiteo must provide the community with all records pertaining to this well, including its design and installation date, any/all inspection and maintenance the company has performed on the well, any deficiencies the company has noted, all corrective/remedial actions the company has taken on the well, etc.”

Up Next

Increase Cost Of Meters: Group Knocks FG, NERC

Don't Miss

Alleged Corruption: Court Stops EFCC From Investigating Dickson

Comments

Headline

Serbia Indicts Ex-minister, 12 Others Over Train Station Tragedy

Published

11 hours ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Serbian prosecutors filed an updated indictment on Tuesday against 13 people, including a former minister, over a fatal railway station roof collapse that has triggered a wave of anti-government protests.

The prosecution said all those indicted, among them former construction minister Goran Vesic, face charges of “serious crimes against public safety” over the tragedy that killed 16 people last November.

“The indictment proposes that the Higher Court in Novi Sad order custody for all the defendants,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The roof collapse at the newly renovated station in Serbia’s second-largest city, Novi Sad, became a symbol of entrenched corruption and sparked almost daily protests.

Protesters first demanded a transparent investigation, but their calls soon escalated into demands for early elections.

The Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad initially filed an indictment at the end of December, but judges returned it in April, requesting more information.

The accused were released or placed under house arrest following the decision.

The prosecutor’s office said it had complied with the judge’s request and had now completed the supplementary investigation.

The prosecutor specialising in organised crime and corruption in Belgrade is leading a separate, independent investigation into the tragedy.

That investigation is focused on 13 people, including Vesic and another former minister, Tomislav Momirovic, who headed the Construction Ministry before him.

In March, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) launched a third, separate investigation into the possible misuse of EU funds for the station’s reconstruction.

AFP

Headline

Kazakhstan Bans Forced Marriage, Bride Kidnapping

Published

11 hours ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Kazakhstan has banned forced marriages and bride kidnappings through a law that came into effect Tuesday in the Central Asian country, where the practice persists despite new attention being paid to women’s rights.

Forcing someone to marry is now punishable by up to 10 years in prison, Kazakh police said in a statement.

“These changes are aimed at preventing forced marriages and protecting vulnerable categories of citizens, especially women and adolescents,” it added.

Bride kidnappings have also been outlawed.

REAS ALSO:What To Know About Albania’s AI Minister, Diella

“Previously, a person who voluntarily released a kidnapped person could expect to be released from criminal liability. Now this possibility has been eliminated,” the police said.

There are no reliable statistics of forced marriage cases across the country, with no separate article in the criminal code prohibiting it until now.

A Kazakh lawmaker said earlier this year that the police had received 214 such complaints over the past three years.

The custom is also present in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan, where it mostly goes unpunished due to indifferent law enforcement and stigma surrounding whistleblowers.

The issue of women’s rights in Kazakhstan gained media attention in 2023 following the murder of a woman by her husband, a former minister, a case that shocked Kazakh society and prompted President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to react.

“Some people hide behind so-called traditions and try to impose the practice of wife stealing. This blatant obscurantism cannot be justified,” Tokayev said last year.

AFP

Headline

Russia Arrests Woman For Detonating Bomb On Railway

Published

11 hours ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Russia’s FSB security service said on Tuesday it had arrested a woman in her fifties accused of detonating explosives in a bid to sabotage the Trans-Siberian Railway.

The suspect was allegedly working on behalf of Ukrainian intelligence, the FSB said, in the latest incident of alleged covert activity during the countries’ conflict.

“In August 2025, following the instructions provided by the adversary, the suspect manufactured a homemade explosive device from publicly available components, placed it on the railway tracks and triggered it,” the Russian agency said.

“She recorded the moment of the explosion on her mobile phone camera and sent the footage as a report to the handler to receive a reward.”

The statement did not name the suspect but said she was born in 1974 and carried out the alleged attack in eastern Siberia’s Zabaikalsky region.

The FSB warned Russians that it was monitoring social networks and online messenger services such as Telegram and WhatsApp for evidence of Ukrainian services recruiting Russians to carry out sabotage.

Separately, the agency told state news agency TASS that a man had been sentenced to 18 years and six months for transporting explosives on behalf of a “pro-Ukrainian” group.

A resident of the Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, had, the FSB said, established contact through the Telegram app with a banned “terrorist organisation”.

He allegedly retrieved explosives from a cache on the orders of this group before waiting for “further instructions”, according to the same source cited by TASS.

He was jailed by a military tribunal.

AFP