Samuel Oyadongha

Peremabiri community in the Boma clan in the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, is on the throes of being washed away by erosion, as a large portion of the community has already been eroded.

Last month, two persons, one of them a graduate of the state owned Niger Delta University, identified as Ikioudo Abel, and a secondary school leaver, Stanley Dominic, lost their lives when a landslide hit a section of the community waterfront.

Indiegenes of the community who are host to the Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC Diebu Creek oil facility and the multi billion naira moribund Peremabiri Rice Farm, have launched a fresh appeal to the federal government to save their community from extinction.

Several homes are already under water in the community with a large portion of the land lost to the rampaging Nun River, as a result of what they blamed on the ongoing dredging work by the oil giant in the area.

The Peremabiri Community Development Committee Chairman, Dickson Peresuote, while lamenting the plight of his people said unless urgent remedial steps were taken the ancient settlement could be wiped out.

Erosion site

According to him, “where we are standing right now may be inside the river sooner than we can imagine. We have lost so much of our community to the River Nun. Even yesterday, as some youths were playing football in the field when they chased the ball to the water front, the ground on which they stood collapsed into the river. And, if you watch you can see with me that the river has advanced too close to the concrete road in the community.”

He blamed SPDC for the woes of the community saying, “If we take a tape and measure, I am sure the space between the River and the concrete road is now less than three meters in that section of the town. Everyone in the community is worried about this threatening ecological issue.

“When we were young, this community was very far from the football field. That is why community leaders are not happy with the way Shell has continued to carry out dredging activities within our environment. SPDC has continued to dredge at some sections of the River Nun and along the Diebu Creek every three years or so without recourse to Environmental Impact Assessment.

“We are of the belief that what Shell is doing is having a direct relationship with this loss of land to the river in our community. And we want solution to this problem. As a peaceful people, we want the authorities to prevail on SPDC and also intervene on this matter.

“I should use this opportunity to call on the Federal Government intervention agencies like the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, and the recently created Niger Delta Ministry, to come to our aid. Unless urgent steps are taken to arrest the rapidly advancing river, this community will disappear soon. Yes, behind our community is a swamp and, we cannot go and build our houses in the swamp. This is our predicament.”

Another indigene of the community, Maurice Jonathan, said, “To tell you the truth no one is comfortable with way the River Nun is expanding while the community land is shrinking by the day. It is like a story now when we tell strangers that this community has lost over 50meters of land in the last few years. And, if the trend should continue unchecked, we may join the monkeys in the swamps very soon.

“We are of the view that the dredging activities of Shell around us also have negative effects that is leading to the collapsing river banks and expansion of the River here. We are calling for assistance from government before we are wiped out from this location. What are we going to tell our children coming behind?”

The Field Coordinator of the Environment Rights Action, ERA, Mr. Alagoa Morris, who was in the community to assess the impact of the erosion menace called on the federal government to, as a matter of urgency, take positive steps to address the ecological threat in Peremabiri and other Niger Delta communities facing similar conditions.

While calling on the people to remain peaceful as they draw attention of the authorities to their plight, he pleaded with the State and National Assembly members representing the area not to rest until something is done to address the ecological threat confronting the people.