Oil spill hits Akwa Ibom oil community as NOSDRA probes source

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Residents of Ntafre, a hard-to-reach coastal community in Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, have called for urgent cleanup and compensation after suspected crude oil pollution affected their creek and fishing activities.

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The demand followed a Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) to Ntafre Creek on Wednesday, 16 September, five days after officials of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) and the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Environment visited the community following a report of an oil spill.

During Wednesday’s JIV, participants observed suspected crude oil stains on vegetation, shrubs and mangrove stems around the creek.

PREMIUM TIMES observed dead aquatic organisms, including barnacles, around portions of the creek and perceived the smell of petroleum substances in the area.

NOSDRA, the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Environment, and oil companies collected samples of suspected crude oil from stained vegetation, sediment, and water for laboratory analysis and oil fingerprinting to determine the owning oil company.

The investigative visit involved NOSDRA, the Akwa Ibom Ministry of Environment, Amni International, Seplat Energy, Tulcan Energy, Savannah Energy, civil society organisations and PREMIUM TIMES.

NOSDRA said other operators in the area, including TotalEnergies and Sterling Oil, had been informed about the investigation but did not participate.

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Network Oando also attended but did not join the field inspection into the creek.

Residents recount impact

The village head of Ntafre, Akpan Bassey, said the community had continued to live with serious infrastructure deficits despite being surrounded by oil companies.

“We are surrounded by many oil companies. As the nearest community to the ocean where many oil companies operate, we bear the brunt of pollution first. Yet, we have no medical centre or hospital or pipe borne water,” Mr Bassey said.

He said residents had continued to depend on available water sources despite concerns about contamination.

“Even after the oil pollution, we continue to drink the polluted water because we have no alternative,” he said.

The youth president of Ntafre, Nelson Smith, said fishers first noticed the pollution in the early hours of 10 September while going fishing.

According to him, residents noticed a strong smell of petroleum in the creek and crude oil stains on their boats.

He said fishing yields had dropped since the incident, affecting the livelihoods of residents who depend mostly on fishing.

Mr Smith called for immediate cleanup of the affected environment and compensation for livelihood losses.

Ntafre is one of the 26 gazetted villages in Ibeno and is located close to the Atlantic Ocean.

The community’s isolation makes access difficult. The journey to Ntafre starts from Okoroutip Beach with about an hour-long boat ride through the creek, followed by a motorcycle ride from Akata 2 and another boat journey of about 20 minutes into the community. Marine police provided security for the JIV team during the journey.

‘Oil was everywhere’ on first visit

Officials who participated in the JIV said the condition observed on Wednesday was different from what they saw during the initial inspection on 11 September, one day after the spill was reported.

Iniobong Ochcha of the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Environment said he participated in the initial visit.

“That first day, oil was everywhere. It was scooped everywhere. Today, we only find stains. We saw stains on the vegetation and the soil,” Mr Ochcha said.

The Assistant Chief Scientific Officer of NOSDRA’s Uyo office, Gaxton Okobah said the agency and the state Ministry of Environment had observed visible crude oil on the water and surrounding environment during their 11 September visit.

He said the coordinates recorded during the initial inspection were used to locate the affected areas during Wednesday’s JIV.

“What we saw today was stained shrubs, stained vegetation and mangroves,” Mr Okobah said.

He said the samples collected during the investigation would be analysed in a laboratory in Port Harcourt.

“The result of the fingerprinting will not be delayed at all because the agency is interested,” he said.

NOSDRA seeks source of recurring pollution

Mr Okobah said determining the source of the pollution was crucial, particularly because similar incidents had reportedly occurred in the neighbouring Akata community in May but investigators were unable to establish evidence because of the time they arrived at the site.

“If we did not come on Friday, but probably came only today, we would have gone back with the same impression,” he said.

The NOSDRA assistant chief scientific officer said NOSDRA’s delay in conducting the JIV was because of the time required to get the operators to agree on a date for the investigation.

He, however, said the delay did not prevent government officials from responding to the initial spill report by the community.

“NOSDRA together with the Ministry of Environment immediately visited the site a day after they were informed and took the necessary evidence,” he said.

Mr Okobah said the reduction in visible crude oil by the time of the JIV showed the importance of prompt investigation after a spill.

Mr Okobah said investigators would also examine possible sources beyond obvious pipelines.

“Whenever there is a spill, it does not just appear from nowhere. It is always from a source. What we are looking at is to determine the source because this has reoccurred,” he said.

He called on residents and other stakeholders to report activities that could result in pollution.

“If there is no pipeline passing through the community then there must be something going on there that we must all work together to unravel,” he said.

Oil firms cautious over source

Representatives of the oil companies that participated in the JIV said they observed stains on vegetation but did not see an oily sheen on the water during the inspection.

Joshua Umoh, representing Seplat Energy, Etimbuk Benson of Tulcan Energy, Maurice Oscar of Savannah Energy and Gafar Abdullahi of Amni International separately expressed similar observations at a meeting after the field visit.

Mr Benson called on NOSDRA to inspect oil and gas assets around the community to determine whether any facility had been breached.

“The environment and the community there is very important,” he said.

Mr Abdullahi said residents could assist investigators in identifying the source because they were the first to notice the pollution.

On his part, Mr Umoh said Seplat awaits further details from NOSDRA on the outcome of the investigation.

PPDF seeks cleanup, water and livelihood support

Peace Point Development Foundation (PPDF), a civil society organisation that participated in the JIV, called for urgent cleanup of the affected environment and a transparent scientific investigation into the source of the pollution.

The Executive Director of Ala Uchi Women Development Initiative Gloria Thomas, who hails from Ibeno, also called for urgent remediation of the affected environment.

Director of Environment at the Ibeno Local Government Council, Ikpe Ebrewong said the suspected pollution entered the community through the Atlantic channel.

In a statement issued on Thursday, PPDF Coordinator, Umo Isuaikoh, said the reduction in visible oil should not be interpreted as evidence that the environmental threat had disappeared.

The organisation called for the immediate release of the laboratory and oil-fingerprinting results and called on authorities to inspect pipelines, oil facilities and other potential sources around Ntafre.

It also called for safe drinking water for residents, an assessment of livelihood losses suffered by fishers and appropriate compensation where losses are established.

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PPDF further urged authorities to establish long-term monitoring of water, sediment, mangroves and aquatic life in Ntafre and neighbouring coastal communities.

The organisation said the difficulty of accessing Ntafre shows the need for a rapid-response mechanism capable of reaching remote coastal communities soon after pollution incidents are reported.

It also called for an investigation into what it described as recurring pollution in communities around the area.

Mr Isuaikoh said a JIV should not be regarded as the end of the accountability process.

For Ntafre residents, he said, an oil spill could translate into lost fishing days, reduced household income, unsafe water and damage to an ecosystem on which the community depends.

NOSDRA said the samples collected during the investigation would be subjected to scientific analysis in Port Harcourt to help determine the source and characteristics of the suspected crude oil.

The outcome of the analysis is expected to guide further action on the incident.