The Environmental Defenders Network (EDEN), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has called on Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), the National Oil Spill Detection and Remediation Agency (NOSDRA) and all relevant stakeholders to take immediate action on a reported strange chemical leakage from a domestic borehole facility in Agudama Community in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, which is in close proximity to an SPDC owned facility in the area.
Following a distress call from a resident of the community, Beatrice Mieye, on Sunday, January 12, 2025, about a strange liquid which looks like crude oil obtained from her borehole, the EDEN field monitoring team led by the Deputy Executive Director of EDEN, Alagoa Morris, visited the site on the same day to investigate the complaint.
Speaking to the EDEN team, Mieye revealed that she had been using water from the borehole for about six years without experiencing such chemicals. She, however, stated that due to some careless handling of the submersible pump, the pump could not be accessed and had been lying fallow for about six to seven months until she acquired a new surface pump and tried to get water on that same Sunday when the strange liquid was seen inside the water.
Morris reported the issue to the Commissioner for Environment in Bayelsa State, Ebi Ben Ololo, which prompted another visit of the site by Morris, the Commissioner for Environment and the State Sanitation Authority on Tuesday, January 14, 2025.
While Ololo has expressed the determination of the Ministry of Environment to follow up on the matter, EDEN on its part is seeking a swift intervention by SPDC and all related government agencies, to detect the cause and source of the spill for prompt resolution.
Meanwhile, EDEN has applauded the Bayelsa State Government and the state Ministry of Environment on its move against indiscriminate logging, implementing a forest closure in the state and meeting timber dealers in the state.Â
“We commend the Bayelsa State Government for such environmentally friendly move, as the forest closure will protect the biodiversity of the environment,” said the group.
