The people Aweusa Kingdom in Abua-Odual Local Government Area of Rivers State are calling on relevant authorities to prevail on an oil and gas company Aradel Holdings PLC to address the spill that has devastated the environment in the area.
The Monarch, chiefs, elders, women and youths of the community have also accused the company of rebuffing all entreaties for dialogue and negotiations to settle the issue.
They are calling on government to intervene and save the community from the harmful effects of the oil spill.
Aweusa is an autonomous Kingdom located on a vast Island at the Eastern flank of Abua land surrounded by the Sombreiro River in Abua Odual Local Government Area of Rivers State.Being a riverine Kingdom, the people are mostly fishing folks who depend on the Sombreiro River, waterfronts and mangrove swamp for survival.
After centuries of existence in the area, a devastating crude oil spill from a flow station operated by Aradel Holdings PLC formerly Niger Delta Petroleum Resources Limited located at Ogbele in Ahoada East LGA with oil wells in Abua has resulted in pollution of the environment, threatening their very livelihood and existence.
The Monarch of the Kingdom, King Mogeni Appia, the Oola Eelhe Aweusa and Ophelegbe Ake-Abuan of Aweusa Kingdom said a 2019 oil spill from a well head at Otari community in Abua flowed into the Sombriero River, polluting the water, destroying the ecosystem, mangroves and wiping out aquatic creatures such as mudskippers, crabs, oysters, lobsters, bloody cockle, and polluted the water, causing severe itching for the people.
King Appia further noted that the company which sits on a 22 kilometer land mass operates a crude oil flow station, refinery and gas processing plant, just 5 kilometers from Aweusa uses big barges that convey crude from the facility through the Sombriero River, ferrying through Aweusa community to anchorage at Orukiri close to Degema where they discharge into larger vessels with no regard for fishermen from the community, destroying fishing gears and causing boats and canoes of community members to capsize.
A woman leader, Imaoyani Umor lamented that the spill has caused them untold hardship ranging from drinking and bathing from polluted water sources to health hazards.
Also, the youth leader, Mr. Frank Kenoye said with the River polluted, the youths and the people find it hard to survive, appealing to government to come to their rescue.
Deputy Executive Director of the Environment rights group, Environmental Defenders Network, Chief Alagoa Morris calls on the relevant Authorities to prevail on the company to ensure clean-up of the River and compensate the community for the devastation they have suffered.
Community members say despite series of letters written to the company including a summon by the National Assembly and a petition to the Office of the National Security Adviser, the Company has continued to ignore them, appealing to government to intervene and save them from extinction.
…By Alambo Datonye
