Face of Gbaramatu Int’l seeks the face of govt over oil spills in N’Delta (Photos)

By Brakere Biriniminighan

As part of the projects lined up in her office, Her Majesty, Queen Helma Akinyomi, who is the Face of Gbaramatu Int’l 2019, took a tour of the Niger Delta and was devastated by the level of oil pollution in the area caused by multinational oil companies operating in the area.

She was amazed that oil pollution has become somewhat a culture with gas flaring not blinking day in day out. Water pollution is no longer news in the area, as this cuts across all the divides in the Niger Delta.

For example, the Queen said that Nembe Creek community in Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State recently called on the authorities to come to their aid as  AITEO Production and Exploration Company was delaying to clean-up an oil spill that has destroyed their means of livelihood especially farmlands since 2016. The Ogoni clean up has become a tall dream.

Going memory lane, Queen Akinyomi recalled that the Amanyanabo of Nembe Creek Community, Chief Kemmer Igbeta, and Vice Chairman of United Nembe Creek Fishermen Association in Yenagoa, had in 2018 said several oil spills had been recorded within a space of time in their town.

For her, it could also be recalled that on August 17, 2016, ten Gbaramatu communities in Warri South West council areas of Delta state were not pleased when they noticed crude oil floating on their farmlands and water. They called on the authorities concerned which did little or nothing to quench the situation.

According to her, the supposed oil spillage was noticed on the NNPC/PPMC Escravos-Warri Trunkline reportedly ravaged Ikpokpo, Tebujor, Okpeleama, Opuede, Opude-Zion, Opuedebubor, Meka-Ama, Oto-Gbene, Atanba, and Okerenkoko-Gbene.

Queen Helma Akinyomi therefore called on the authorities to stop oil pollution in the Niger Delta, which constitutes human and environmental hazards.