About 108 riverine communities in Ilaje local government area of Ondo State have sent a “save our soul” petition to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Management Agency (NMAMA) over the activities of Shell Petroleum Development Company in their areas.
The communities alleged that they have been battling with strange ailments since Bonga Oil spillage, owned by Shell occurred in December 2011, on one of the oil facilities located off-shore of five Niger Delta states, which Ondo was among.
This was contained in the petition signed by its Chairman, Prince Kumoye Fadiya, Vice-Chairman, Ilurimi Orimisan and Secretary, Sehinde Akinbami, which a copy was made available to DailyPost in Akure, the Ondo State capital today.
They lamented that despite the assurance from the Oil Company that the oil spillage would cause no harm on the residents, their people are now dying on a daily basis.
The petition reads, “It is part of the admission of Shell that, her Company deployed ships and air plane to spray dispersant on the oil spilled with a view to sinking the oil into the bottom of the sea.
“Though Shell claimed that the spill did not get to the shoreline of the coastal villages, but we want to state that dispersants and other chemicals used were sprayed on dispensed from the plane before the chemical gets to the oil on the sea which dispersant were carried by air, which no doubt, affected the vegetation and people living along to coastal villages.
“We are by this petition informing your agency/office that after the said spill and the attempted remedial measure put in place to sink the said spilled oil, strange ailments and other diseases have surfaced in the coastal communities which are strange to us. This strange ailment is prevalent among children to the effect that when they fall sick. It becomes very difficult and impossible for the Health Centres in the villages to treat them and are, therefore, referred to Specialist or General Hospital, several kilometres away at either Igbokoda or Okitipupa.
“The most unfortunate thing is that most of these children died before getting to the Hospital and the lucky ones among them, when tested suddenly develop shortage of blood, cough and other ailments which are strange to us.
“We have been hearing from media report of communities in Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa, protesting and making representatives to the House of Representatives over the Bong Oil spill but in our own case, we have reported to Ondo State Ministry of Environment but nobody seem to listen to us”
The communities are demanding for compensation from the Oil company and relief materials for their people.
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