The people of the coastal communities of Odimodi, Beneboye and Isiayeigbene in Iduwini Clan of Burutu Local Government area of Delta State have called on Brittania-U to take responsibility for the crude oil spill which occurred on the coastline line on July 18, 2024, caused by a fire incident that gutted one of the company’s vessels ferrying crude oil products.
The communities had reported a massive oil pollution ravaging the Forcados area, which affected the Odimodi, Beneboye, Isiayeigbene and Okuntu community coastline in July. According to separate reports from the communities, the crude oil spill was caused by a fire incident which happened on a Floating Production Storage and Offloading Facility owned by Brittina-U Nigeria Limited, at Ajakpa Field, OML 90.
This was made known by the communities during a People’s Assembly Action organised by Community Development Advocacy Foundation (CODAF) in the respective affected communities, as part of the lineup of activities towards the African People’s Counter COP (APCC) which is supported by the Africa Climate Justice Collective (ACJC) aimed at exposing the oil spill crisis caused by Brittania-U in the affected communities.
While speaking to the respective communities, Executive Director of CODAF, Richard Benin, stated that the domestic and international oil exploration companies in the Niger Delta region have continued to pollute the environment because they are aware of the inability of the communities to speak together in one voice, to demand accountability from the companies and the government who are key beneficiaries of oil extraction, while the common folks are left to bear the brunt of degraded environments.
According to him, CODAF and other affiliate organisations in Nigeria, Africa and the world can only act on these reports if the communities can be united to speak about their challenges and tell the world about their stories of hunger, poverty, health challenges and neglect, despite their status as an oil rich region.
The people of the communities lamented that despite the grave health damages, environmental and air pollution caused by the spill, neither the company, NOSDRA or any other agency has visited the communities to ascertain the level of damages caused by the spill and how the fishing and farming folks have survived in the face of their degraded environment and the destruction of livelihood.
Testimonies from Beneboye Community
A community representative said: “We woke up in the night and saw fire in the sea. The company vessel was burning. We called our landlords in Odimodi to report the issue. At about 12 midnight, the smell of crude was everywhere. It affected everybody in the community. We could not breathe. Our children were coughing. When we woke up in the morning, the crude from the burning vessel had washed on our land.
“There was nowhere to walk. Everywhere had been polluted with crude oil. All the people who went fishing the next day came back empty handed. They could not pull out their nets because it was soaked with crude. The crude spread from the sea into the creeks and destroyed our land. Even the palm fruits we used to cook before, we can’t use them anymore because they are contaminated.
“When we eat it now, it gives s cough. We have suffered different kinds of sickness since then. We have been through a lot since that spill happened in July. That is how we have been suffering since then. We have evidence of some of the crude we collected from the spill.”
Beauty Omasaye said: “When we heard you people were coming, we were happy. We thought the company has finally heard our cry. Since that Brittania-U spill happened, all my husband’s nets were destroyed by the spill. I borrowed money to help my husband buy a net, yet no fish in the sea to catch. I am in debt now; my children are hungry. All my farms have been destroyed. Schools have resumed for the past three weeks but we don’t have money to send them back to school. Brittania-U should have mercy on us. We are suffering.”
Esther Abogun said: “We have really suffered in this community. Since the Brittania-U vessel got burnt, three of my grandchildren are suffering from serious cough. When the vessel was burning, it was like a war here. All our eyes were filled with smoke. We lost all our fishing materials. We have been crying since. Even our only source of drinking water has been destroyed. We want the company to come and replace our fishing materials, to pay us for damages and clean up our land.”
Testimonies from Isiayegbene Community
Jacob Obolo said: “That pipeline you see there comes directly from the Shell Forcados terminal. The waste liquid made up of oil and water is being disposed into the sea from this pipe. When the water and chemical get into the sea, it kills our fishes. When we buy over N30,000 worth of fuel to fill or tanks and go fishing, what we come back with is very small. We have had several oil spills from Shell facility, but they will blame it on sabotage without doing anything to clean up. We have been suffering from Shell spills before the one of Brittania-U in July. On July 18, we were watching as the Brittania-U vessel was burning. Before we knew it, all the crude oil in the vessel started flowing towards the shore. We have some of the crude we collected to keep as evidence.
“This creek that passes from the sea to or water side, the crude oil spread from here to other communities in Odimodi. We are the ones producing the oil they use to develop other places, but we are the ones suffering the most. Where the boat was burning was so far away so we could not reach it, but we saw the oil on our land. Since the spill, nobody from the company or the government has come to see us. We are pleading with the company to come and clean up our land. They should also provide food and relief materials to help the people to fight hunger until we get back on our feet. They should also compensate s for the damages.”
Helen Peremene said: “Since after the spill from Brittania-U happened, no one has come to help us. The hunger and suffering have become too much for us. The women here can tell you how much we have suffered. Our children are hungry and cannot go to school because we don’t have any means of making money. Our only source of drinking water has been polluted. Everything we use to survive here has been destroyed. Our fishing materials, farmlands, plantain plantations…everything has been destroyed by the oil spill. We have cried but nobody came to our aid.”
Testimonies from Odimodi Community
Oweniyi Florence (Head of the Odimodi Community Health Centre) said: When the spill happened, people from Beneboye, Isiayegbene and other communities were rushed to the Odimodi health centre. Some had difficulty in breathing, some had rashes, some were coughing. In our health centre, we do not have enough facilities and medications, so we had to refer them to Warri. The water also flowed to Odimodi and destroyed our land. It is so bad that months after it happened, the company has not done anything. The people in these communities are suffering. They should bring relief materials and compensate the people.”
Kuluma Iyorakpo said: “We are not fine. We want the government to investigate this problem. Oil will flow from the sea into our own river and into our farmland where we are farming and fishing. If we go into the creeks, we don’t kill fishes anymore. We are suffering here, especially the women. The government needs to investigate what these companies are doing to us, so that we can also enjoy what God has given to us.”
Florence Gbadia said: “It is bad how the government has abandoned us. In this place, what we do is fishing and farming, but oil has destroyed all our nets. If you go to our farmlands, oil has taken over all our plantains. Even the coconut we plant, when we harvest, they are yellow like yellow fever. We are dying in this area. They should have pity for us.”
Magdalene Tabisan (Deputy Women Leader) said: “All our lands have been destroyed because of oil spill. If we farm in one farmland this year, we can’t use the land again. If you see the distance women go to farm because all our nearby lands have been destroyed, you will feel sorry for them. Even if some people or organisations come to empower us with fishing nets and plantain seedlings, where will we use the net to fish and how would we plant the plantains, when all the waters and lands are polluted? The women need empowerment or better still, the oil exploration should stop.”
Also speaking on the issue, the secretary of Odimodi, Preye Oweide who received the CODAF delegation, expressed the gratitude of the community for the concern showed toward their community and other neighbouring communities in the face of the oil and gas crisis rocking the area.
While speaking on the oil spill caused by Brittania-U, Preye stated that he received a call on July 18, 2024, from the chairman of Beneboye Community of an explosion in the sea, which led to the fire that gutted the vessel. According to him, the entire shoreline was covered with a high level of crude oil the next morning when he visited the community the next day with other members of the executives.
He added that, despite the series of letters and videos sent to the company and other agencies, neither the company nor the government has responded.
He lamented that the people of the communities who rely on fishing and farming as their means of livelihood have been driven into a deep level of poverty, as the spill has destroyed their nets, chased away the fishes and their farmlands destroyed.
He called on the government and the public to compel Brittania-U to assess the spill, to send relief materials to the affected communities, cleanup the affected areas and pay for the damages incurred.
The people of Beneboye and Isiayegbene also did a seaside action, demanding for environmental and human rights justice for their people.
Meanwhile, as part of efforts towards mitigating the impacts of climate change, environmental pollution and remediation, CODAF inaugurated the “A Million Tree School Club Project” in Odimodi Secondary School, Odimodi.
The inauguration was done to commission a young generation of environmentally conscious youth, educating them on the importance of tree planting, its effect on climate change and the need for environmental restoration, especially among oil producing communities.
In a bid to also ameliorate the socioeconomic hardship of the people and encourage the young environmental campaigners, CODAF gave out free notebooks to students of the primary and secondary schools in the community.
