Hundreds of inhabitants of Omoviri Rumuekpe community in Emuoha Local Government Area of Rivers State have decried the devastating impact of oil spillage from neighbouring community that flows into the community’s farmlands and rivers.
Residents of the community said that they could no longer go to their farms to plant seeds as well as fish in the community’s river as oil spillage ostensibly coming from neighbouring community have destroyed their farmlands and polluted the community’s source of drinking water.
A non-governmental organisation, Social Action, took journalists on an on-the-spot assessment on the level of environmental damage in the area.
The Chairman of Omoviri Community Development Committee, Excellent Eze said that the residents were surprised to see oil floating in the water and that since then, their source of livelihood has been destroyed.
Apart from the oil spill that overflows the community’s river bank, our reporter learnt that the residents lack basic infrastructure and amenities such as roads, school and hospitals.
A resident, Umunakwe Bekee, said the oil started spilling into the community river three years ago without any efforts by government agencies and multinationals to identify the source of the leakage and remediate the environment.
He wondered why it has taken the government too long to address the issue having known the serious damage that the spillage had done to their source of drinking water, farmlands and fishes in the river.
The Senior Programs Officer of Social Action, Prince Edegbuo, called on relevant government agencies to urgently provide potable drinking water to the people while ensuring that it identifies the source of the spillage and compensates the residents.
Our reporter learnt that about three oil companies operate along the stretch of the community. The Nigeria LNG also has its gas pipeline crisscross the stretch of Rumuekpe but none of the companies have taken responsibility for the spillage.
When contacted, a source from the Rivers State ministry of environment told our reporter that since the commissioner incharge of the ministry was relieved of his appointment last week, nobody could speak on the incident.
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