Rivers: Ogoni communities lament oil spills despite cleanup

Oil spill in Niger Delta

Some indigenes of Ogoniland in Rivers State have lamented that their fish and periwinkles are still being laced with oil spills despite the ongoing clean-up by the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project.

The fisherfolk, drawn from Gbee, K-Dere and Nweemuu communities, spoke at a multi-stakeholder dialogue with the theme, ‘Restoring Rivers, Reviving Livelihoods, Renewing Lives’, held at Kpor, headquarters of Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State, on Wednesday.

The programme attracted participants from several fishing communities in Ogoni, representatives of HYPREP, the University of Port Harcourt, civil society organisations, the Nigeria Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, youths, women and other stakeholders.

In their different presentations, some of the affected persons; Chief Nadabel John, Chief Emmanuel Pii and Madam Grace Namon, expressed worry that their farmlands, vegetation and water bodies are still laden with oil spills.

They added, “Our fish and periwinkles still have the smell of crude oil when we catch and cook them for consumption.”

In her address, the convener of the dialogue, Anuoluwapo Adelakun of the Pulitzer Centre for Crisis Reporting, stated that the dialogue was borne out of the findings of an investigation and the lamentations of the people, which showed an information gap between HYPREP and the local communities.

Adelakun, an investigative journalist, pointed out that the result of a report carried out in partnership with the University of Port Harcourt showed that the water sediments of the communities where the study took place still contain heavy metals such as nickel, a cancer-causing substance. She also stated that from the findings, fish such as tilapia have heavy concentrations of these metals. Punch