POLOBUBOR-as the indigenes would prefer to call it- is the largest Ijaw settlement in Warri North LGA. This sprawling community, albeit rustic, is located in the thickest of the Benin River mangroves.

It rests on the far end of a fresh water creek that snakes through Gbokoda and Opuma from the main Benin River, and at a point where the river flows into the estuary of the Atlantic Ocean.

Fishing used to be a robust source of income to the natives that are mainly Ijaws. And the depleting mangrove forest used to be a source of firewood and games to a people who would wish for nothing short of to live and die in Polobubor (Tsekelewu).

But the stark reality on ground is that these thick mangroves are disappearing in an alarming speed that the inhabitants of Tsekelewu are bothered of their own economic survival. Long before now-and when exploration of crude oil has made mess of their environment, even though, government was very, very far from them in terms of infrastructural amenities,  the people were at peace living in a serene environment yet to be provoked by the said unguarded activities of oil companies and aided by successive Nigerian governments.

Those who were born to meet the utopian Tsekelewu (Polobubor) had still not ceased to long for it, even as they mourn the depredation of the hitherto endowed environment, as well as the distortion of the ecosystem. For those who were born after the life-changing 1992 dredging of the Tsekelewu creek, it was a desire to have a feel of the good old days.

To both the young and the old, living in Tsekelewu has been hellish soon after the dredging of the creek to connect the Atlantic Ocean to allow a flow of large volume of water into the creek so that large barges could bring in oil exploration equipment. Today, beside the loss of source of income, the people have to grapple with one of the essentials of life-water.

Water, if not a sine qua non to living, it is essential. This, perhaps, is why it is presumptuously true that a good percent of creations sprouted from it. Even though this is evidently true, not all water is good water. The indelible lesson from the travails of the Mariner in Coleridge’s Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner is a pointer to this fact.

The Mariner had to go through the ordeal of thirst as a testimony of rejuvenation for the unprovoked murder of an innocent bird. Small wonder”there is water everywhere yet there is none to drink”

Although the Tsekelewu community is noted for the numerous oil wells dotting the marshland, there is hardly anything to show for it. Not even the call on oil exploration companies by the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resource to provide a palliative to communities affected by their operations has brought about any significant change in these host communities which Tsekelewu is one.

The problem of the people of Tsekelewu is not oil spillage, but that from the neglect of the community, and several others in the environs by companies operating in that area. Although, it is an island of a sort, the people perish from acute short supply of drinkable water. A situation one wouldn’t have wished to liken to the travails of the “Ancient Mariner” who in the thick of an ocean yet couldn’t get a drop to drink.

Perhaps the “Ancient Mariner” became susceptible to such fate to give way for the purgation of sin in preparation for the journey ahead. But this cannot be the fate of a people whose only sin was allowing Shell and Chevron to dredge their hitherto freshwater creeks to connect the Atlantic Ocean for convenience in transporting workers and equipment to the various oil facilities in the environs.

Before now, the people of Tsekelewu had no problem sourcing for drinkable water as they have been drinking from the freshwater creeks for ages. But today the story is far from being normal as the Atlantic Ocean has made a complete mess of the creeks. The Tsekelewu creek is presently the trash can of all debris from the Atlantic Ocean. The situation is such that water is rationed among the five clans making up Tsekelewu (Polobubor).

This, however, was not before Chevron Nig. Ltd, under the supervision of the Egbema/Gbaramatu Central Development Council, sank a bore hole in the community. The sight of women and children skipping work and school, respectively, to get water is irritating.

Most youths within schooling ages missed classes to get water whenever it is the turn of their clan to do so. Apparently, any family which fails to utilize the turn of its clan would have to endure water scarcity or paddle a long distance to get water from the nearest oil platform. At that, what they get is water whose purity is in doubt!

The deplorable state of the creeks around Tsekelewu was not accidental, the effects were gradual and cumulative yet there were no palliatives to cushion the hardship. With the effects of the surge of the Atlantic Ocean becoming critical, living, for the people of Tsekelewu and several others in adjoining villages has become miserable so much that their main source of living-which is fishing has been cut off.

Other aquatic lives have also not been spared. With the eating up of the mangrove trees by the salty water from the Atlantic Ocean, getting fire woods to prepare their meals as well as smoke their fish-which is not even there- is posing a herculean task to the inhabitants.

It is pathetic that the swamp land which accommodated dense mangrove forest has become a wasteland with grasses taking over the marshy land.

Mr. Ugbagba is a teacher at the only secondary school in the community. He lamented the hardship the people of Tsekelewu are made to go through in a community which sits on oil and gas. He said they were sick and tired of calling on the relevant authorities to come to their succour.

The only option left to them, he said further, was to live with the frustrations and believe that one day the time will come for a far- reaching change in the country.

Interestingly, this fear has been confirmed by a World Bank report long before now. The report warns that 40 percent of habitable terrain in the Niger Delta area will disappear in 20 years. Also in the report the World Bank claimed that the shorelines, creeks and other inhabitable areas will be washed away by erosion as well as spills due to vandalism, system failure and other related operational activities which disturb the ecosystem.

The buck stops at the Federal Government  table to remedy the gross neglect of oil producing communities. If for nothing, it should ensure that oil bearing communities get a better deal from interventionist agencies as well as oil exploration companies.

All interventionist agencies set up by the Federal Government have not been able to live up to the expectations of the people. These agencies are waist deep in corruption such that there is nothing to show for the constitutional approval of at least 13 per cent derivation for oil bearing communities. It should be noted that the 13 per cent derivation was constitutionally provided for as a result of agitations for the amelioration of anticipated environmental devastation.

In time past, there had been buck-passing  between government and its agencies. While the Federal Government puts the blame on the state government, the state government in turn shifts it to the local government. In all this, the people in question suffer.

Obviously, when the head is sick, the body is bound to be sick. However, the LGA which is closest to the rural dwellers has not been supportive in anyway. Particular mention can be made of the Warri North LGA that has recently abandoned its responsibilities to the people.

It remains to be seen how the council can justify the purpose for which it was created by the then Babangida  regime on August 27, 1999. Perhaps, then we can now talk of a functional LGA administration in Warri North.

For now, there is no government in Warri North because for the two weeks I traversed the nooks and crannies of Polobubor (Tsekelewu) and adjoining villages, there was apparently no indication that Tsekelewu and its adjoining villages are still in Warri North LGA.

Mr. OKOFU UBAKA, a social critic, wrote from Koko in Warri North LGA, Delta State.