Bodo Oil Spills in Rivers: Youths Demand N40m For Each Community Member, block Julius Berger others

Eric Olusesan/Port Harcourt.

Youths of Bodo community in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State currently ravaged by crude oil spill this morning, Tuesday, October 4, are reported to have blocked access roads to the area.

They are also reported to have stopped Julius Berger, Plc and other companies from working until their demands are met.

Youths of Bodo community in Gokana local government area of Rivers State have demanded N40 million as compensation to each member of the community from Shell following constant oil spills in the area.

The protest which started yesterday has snowballed into blocking access roads and companies working at the identified oil spill sites followed the oil spills and the alleged failure of Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC to pay them compensation. 

Unconfirmed reports had it that in the midst of the confusion, some members of Investigation team were physically molested and temporarily held hostage.

An Environmentalist and the Executive Director of Youth and Environmental Advocacy centre YEAC-Nigeria, Dumnamene Fyneface, who confirmed the protest attributed it to rumour of an alleged insurance “fake” Joint Investigation Report on the spill.

He claimed that reports from Bodo show that the oil companies came with alleged fake forms during the Joint Investigative Visit which they tried to allegedly hoodwink the members of Joint Team to endorse.

Members of investigation team  included, Lawmakers, traditional rulers prominent members of the community and representives of SPDC, NNPC, National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, NOSDRA and others.

Preliminary findings in earlier spills showed that due to the ruptured Trans Niger Pipeline operated by SPDC which the company admitted to be caused by equipment failure and “only about five barrels of crude oil spilled'”.

Oil spills occurred no fewer than four  times in the community within the months of August and September 2022, leading to the destruction of aquatic life and the environment.

Recall could be made that the youths had made the demand in position through paper presented to the Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) by stakeholders in the oil industry to the site of the recent spill more than a month ago, precisely on August 30.

Members of the community  also requested among others, the provision of relief materials for people of Bodo community to cushion the effect of the spills.

The executive director of YEAC-Nigeria, Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface, explained that the oil spills occurred on the Trans Niger Delta Pipeline (TNP) that passes through the community to the Bonny Export Terminal which is operated by Shell.

Fyneface stated that the August 30 spill occurred on the same spot where there was a spill on August 24 but it was not clamped immediately by Shell as discussion was still ongoing with the community for access to the site.

Shell and NOSDRA were yet to react to the protests at the time of filing this report.