A community leader in Ikot-Osute,Nsikak Joshua, who spoke at the site of the blast, said: “At around 4 a.m. we heard the loud noise of an explosion, then a sound like rain so we came out and saw gas gushing out from the NNPC pipeline,but there is no fire there now.”
In similar development, the oil-rich Okpai in Ndokwa east local government area of Delta State, the host community of Agip Independent Power Plant, has decried the alleged abandonment of the shore protection project by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
The chairman of Okpai Community Development Committee (CDC), Chief John Emordi, made the claim when he visited Mr Nnamdi Ezechi, the commissioner representing Ndokwa ethnic nationality on the board of Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC).
Emordi lamented that that there was nothing to show for the over 50 years of oil and gas exploitation in the community and the peace the exploration companies enjoyed while operating in the area.
