Gas flaring and pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta
Innocent Anaba
Ossisioma Ngwa community in Abia State has instituted a N4.65 billion suit against Nigerian National Petroleum National Corporation, NNPC; Pipelines Product Marketing Company, PPMC, and the Federal Government, before an Abia State High Court sitting in Ossisioma over the pipelines fire explosions that ravaged the area on October 12, 2018.
It will be recalled that on October 12, 2018, a system 2E petroleum pipeline belonging to NNPC and managed by its subsidiary, PPMC, caught fire and exploded in the Ossisioma-Ngwa community of Abia State, resulting in a massive conflagration that burnt and destroyed several human/animal lives and property in the community.
Alongside the human fatalities, the inferno caused blistering devastation to several residents of Umuaduru and Umuimo villages as well as residents of Uratta, Umuze and Njiko Umunna Autonomous Communities in Ossisioma Ngwa Local Government Area of Abia State.
Counsel to the community, Messrs Joseph Otteh and Daniel Aloaye of Access to Justice, a civil society organisation, in the suit are praying the court for an order for the payment of exemplary/aggravated damages against the defendants jointly and severally in the sum ofN3 million and an order of special damages against the defendants, jointly and severally, in the sum of N15 million.
They are also praying the court to direct the defendants to pay the claimants jointly and severally N1.2 billion as general damages to alleviate the unqualifiable physical, emotional, psychological trauma and agony the claimants have suffered following the pipeline fire explosions, owing to deliberate and/or negligent acts of the defendants.
Otteh in the suit noted that shortly after the fire and “unfortunately, on October 20, 2018,
Accuse Presidency of negligence
President Muhammadu Buhari, through his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, issued a statement, claiming that the explosions were likely caused by suspected oil thieves.
“This claim was made well before the Federal Government or the NNPC had conducted a thorough, impartial and independent investigation into the cause, manner and circumstances of the incident as required under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and other International Treaties to which Nigeria is a party, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
“Since that unfortunate incident, nothing further, as far as Access to Justice is aware, has been published concerning that tragic event, either by the NNPC, PPMC or the Federal Government.
“All three parties have swept the matter under the carpet, leaving thousands of people affected by the explosions, directly or indirectly, to bear alone the brutal and horrifying consequences of that calamity.
“Even the Federal Government, which has a non-derogable duty to protect the lives of Nigerians did not lift a finger to interrogate the role of the oil establishment in the unfortunate calamities, but chose to take side with the impunity with which they behaved.”
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