Bayelsa warns oil companies against pollution

The Bayelsa state government has decried the incessant pollution of its communities due to the exploitation of oil and gas by multinational companies in the state.   

The government warned that any oil company which operations resulted in the pollution of the environment would be made to face the consequences in line with the law.

Inuro Wills, the commissioner for environment, gave the warning in an interview with NAN in Yenagoa, capital of the state.

Wills, who visited the Kolo Creek oil fields, where a leak in the oil pipeline discharged crude into the farmlands and vegetation, said that the pipeline leak had contaminated the environment.

He revealed that the oil facility belonged to Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), adding that the government had taken steps to ensure that the SPDC promptly cleaned up the impacted area.

“We will carefully consider what to do next whatever the cause of the spill may be, whether it is as a result of sabotage or equipment failure,” he said.

“There has to be consequences even if it is caused by sabotage because, clearly, there is a pattern of occurrence.

“Almost on a daily basis, there is one oil spill or the other in Bayelsa.

He maintained that government and the people of the state would no longer tolerate incessant pollution of their environment.

According to him, oil firms in the state carried out their operations without being sensitive to the environment.

“The pollution at the Kolo Creek oil field is yet another demonstration of how oil and gas production is done in Nigeria, especially in the Niger Delta region,” he said.

“The activities of the oil companies threaten our environment; they put the health of our people in danger and destabilise the economy of the region.”

He criticised the Joint Investigation Visit (JIV), a process currently adopted by oil companies and other stake holders in accessing oil spills, insisting that the procedure had outlived its usefulness.

Wills said that the state had begun an overhaul of JIV process to enable the participation of more stakeholders and make it more transparent.