…petition NNPC GMD

By Perez Brisibe

FOLLOWING the recent oil spill that ravaged Edjophe, Otor-Edo and Iwhrekan communities in Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State, the communities have issued a seven-day ultimatum to Nigerian Petroleum Development  Company, NPDC, to clean up the impacted areas and pay adequate compensation to the people of the communities, else they will shut down the Utorogu Gas Plant and other oil facilities in their area.

The communities also petitioned the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, alleging that the management of NPDC absconded after hurriedly carrying out a Joint Investigation at the site.

The communities which also copied Minister of Environment, Minister of Petroleum Resources and the National Assembly, the petition explained that the oil spill occurred on April 28, 2016 and that as a result they have been living in pain.

The communities lamented that they can no longer carry out their normal fish farming nor drink from the polluted water, adding that NPDC officials only came to carryout JIV where it was established that it was caused by their equipments’ failure and promised to come the next day to assess the extent of damage before making adequate compensation “but up till this moment, they have not shown up.”