By Francis Sadhere, Warri
Following a recent ruptured pipelines belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), relief materials worth several millions of naira were weekend, donated to the affected host community in Otu-Jeremi town.
The food items given to the community were: four cows, 40 bags of rice, 40 bags of beans, 20 bags of garri, 800 tubers of yams, 15 cartons of groundnut oil, 17cartons of tin tomatoes, and 15 bags of salt.
Recall that there were alleged media reports that the pipeline, situated at Otu-Jeremi town in Ughelli, Delta State, was engulfed in flames.
The facility is NNPC’s Upstream subsidiary, operated by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC).
The Manager, Government Community and Security, NPDC, Mr. Sheidu Aiguedo, who was represented by Mr Christopher Otobrise, Community Interface Coordinator, NPDC, supervised the distribution of the relief materials.
Aiguedo said that according to a Joint Investigation report, about 50 barrels of crude oil was spilled into the community as a result of the ruptured pipelines, but however noted that the pipeline has since being repaired.
“When there is equipment failure we respond immediately. But if it is discovered that a spill was caused by vandalism, we will not provide any form of relief materials nor are we going to award the contract to the host community and they will not participate in any activity.
“This community is our major host community. We have the Otorogu Gas Plant. They are the host to our flow station. The Otorogu Gas Plant is jointly owned by three communities – Otor Udu, Iwreka and Otu-Jeremi. But the place where this spill happened is the Otujeremi community. This is why we are giving Otu-Jeremi these relief materials.
Receiving the food items, Chairman of the Otu-Jeremi community, Olorogun Samson Janughan, commended NPDC for the gesture, appealing to the company to help them clean up the affected area.
“I want to appreciate NPDC for sending this relief materials to us. There was an equipment failure last week Friday. What happened was a disaster and we have been crying for the past one week now. Today we thank God that NPDC has responded,” Janughan said.
Below are some images from the brief ceremony.
