Shell, ERA disagree on oil spillage clean-up

A multi-national oil company, Shell Petroleum Development Company, has disagreed with the Environmental Right Action and Friends of the Earth Nigeria on clean-up and remediation of oil spillage site in Bayelsa State.

ERA/FoEN had alleged that Shell refused to clean up an oil spill in Yiba-Ama (formerly known as Oruma) community in Ogbia Local Government Area of the state two years after oil spillage occurred. But the SPDC in a response through its spokesperson in Port Harcourt, Mr. Joseph Obari, claimed that the affected community denied the oil company access to the spillage site.

Obari said, ”The clean-up and remediation of the impacted creek in Oruma (Yiba-Ama) community was not completed until April 2017, because the community denied our Oil Spill Response Team access to the spill site. ”The denial of access was despite several engagements of leaders of the community.” Obari added that the SPDC was now awaiting regulators’ certification of the remediated site before anything could be done.