Polobubo Community has declared an environmental crisis in the oil and gas rich community following decades of environmental onslaught by the oil companies which operate there as a joint venture with the Nigerian government. Polobubo in Warri North Local Government Area, Delta State is the site for the operations of Chevron Nigeria Limited, Conoil Producing and NPDC/Elcrest among others, whose exploitation of the community’s over 20,000 barrels per day oil resource has led to massive destruction of the life support system of the community, especially following a canal construction referred to as the Western Bypass which was carried out in the early 1980s by Chevron. Ongoing devastation through gas flaring, oil spill caused by equipment failure including a 2019 Ojumole fire incident that raged for over 73 days, has placed Polobubo as the most devastated community in the Niger Delta, through the impact of these companies operations.
With the canal construction carried out without a standard environmental impact assessment, EIA, and designed primarily to enable Chevron bring in its equipment from the Atlantic ocean to its operations at the Opuekeba Flow Station, saline water was introduced into what was a pristine freshwater ecosystem.
At a press conference which held in Warri Wednesday, June 15, 2022, organised by the community to commemorate the 2022 World Environment Day titled ‘Only One Earth, Only One Homeland Polobubo [Tsekelewu]’ to draw attention to the dire situation confronting the community, President General of the Polobubo [Tsekelewu Development Association Dr. Bright Abulu in an address noted that,’ ‘These companies have contributed to the devastation, pollution and destruction of our ecosystem and brought Polobubo to its pitiable environmental condition’.
Emphasizing that despite being pitted against powerful oil interests supported by the Federal government, the community has not slept on its rights, ‘Our Fathers protested the Western Bypass construction in the 1980s. They were molested and detained in Akure by security operatives. Several of our youth have also been killed by Security Operatives attached to the oil companies when they protested the violation of our rights and the destruction of our environment over the years.
The gravity of damage to the Polobubo environment is underlined in the address which notes that, ‘Due to the construction of the Western Bypass Canal by Chevron Nigeria Limited, over time, a siltation of the waterways around our community occurred leading to a mud sludge and siltation of the Oloduwa river and other water bodies. The Oloduwa waterways used to be 9 fathoms deep up to the 1970s providing us abundant sustenance with a rich marine life and life sustaining fresh water. Polobubo was known for its rich variety of fauna including antelopes, crocodiles, alligators and manatees which we call ‘Torufaowei’ and big fishes such as the ‘Ebah’ or ‘governor’ Fish among others. We used to sell bush meat and catfish at Warri and Sapele, which are no more’.
The community made a 14-point demand for environmental reparation and compensation to include primarily, the cleaning, remediation and reparation of the environment by the Federal Government, Delta State, SDPC, Chevron Nigeria Limited, NPDC/Elcrest JV and Conoil Producing Nigeria Limited as stated in the Nigeria Petroleum Act 2021 Section101[2,3] by 2023.
Other demands expressed at the press conference include, ‘land reclamation, shoreline protection projects should be executed for Polobubo community by the Federal Government of Nigeria, Niger Delta Development Commission [NDDC] Delta State government before 2024.’
Significantly, the community called for an immediate blockade of the Western Bypass canal that linked Polobubo to the Atlantic ocean a man made intervention by Chevron and the Federal Ministry of Works, that caused the decades long and increasing siltation of the Oloduwa creek, loss of marine life, deep poverty and growing childhood protein deficiency observed in some children in the community. The Polobubo people want this remediation done by December.
