Shell Abandons Community after Oil Spill

The residents of Oruma-Yibama, Ogbia local government area, Bayelsa State, have alleged that Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) is yet to clean up an oil spill that occurred in the area on June 2.

The chairman of Oruma-Yibama Community Development Committee, Mr Eliot Igbigikeme, raised the people’s concern in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Oruma-Yibana on Sunday.

He said that the spill had flowed from Odau into the community through the natural water channels in the area.

He said that the community was concerned about the negative impact of continued exposure to crude oil. The community leader said that the spill had exposed the residents to health risks and devastated the environment.

“Shell is a difficult company to understand. Instead of it to promptly take steps to clean-up a spill of this nature when it occurs, the company exhibits some delay tactics. Perhaps Shell wants the crude oil to remain and dry up during the dry season. But the crude will still come up when it begins to rain again.

“This is not how it should be and that is why we want Shell to clean the impacted environment. We need immediate cleanup before more harm is done,” he said.