By Francis Sadhere, Warri
Polobubo (Tsekelewu) Community in Warri North Local Government Area of Delta has cried out to President Muhammadu Buhari over the devasting effects of the March 14, 2021 spillage at their community.
President of the Polobubo Bloc of Communities, Mr. Paul Toruwei, in a statement made available to BusinessDay, decried the nonchalant attitude of the management of the NPDC/ELCREST, owners of the OML 40 facility where the spillage occurred, and the Delta and Federal governments.
Consequently, the community leader called on President Buhari and the Honourable Ministry of Petroleum, State, Chief Timipre Slyva, to prevail on NPDC to do the needful by providing relief materials to the affected communities to reduce the adverse effects of the spillage.
According Toruwei, one week after the spillage, there is no relief in the form of food, drugs, clean-up of the environment or whatsoever.
Toruwei stated that the people were left to their fate “as the oil company and government do not care about them and are only interested in how they would start oil exploration from the facility without concern for the immediate needs of the community.”
“Already the NPDC/ELCREST has been sending their officials to the site of the spillage like divers to work without consulting or approval of the affected communities.
“Even the Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) that was done was controversial as parties are yet to agree on the cause of the spillage,” the statement read.
President of the Polobubo Bloc of Communities also called on NPDC/ELCREST joint venture to consider the plight of the people of their host communities who are facing the adverse effect of the spillage from their facility rather than the desperation to start operations.
He stated that some persons were still sick while majority of the people are without a source of livelihood.
