The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) on Sunday lambasted the federal government for its handling of the gas pipeline explosion off the Bayelsa coast two months ago which has worsened the plight of the already neglected people in the Koluama community and its environs.
The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) on Sunday lambasted the federal government for its handling of the gas pipeline explosion off the Bayelsa coast two months ago which has worsened the plight of the already neglected people in the Koluama community and its environs.
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''For a community that is already neglected, with no potable water, electricity, schools or health facilities, the Chevron gas pipeline disaster - which triggered a perpetual fire that enveloped communities with toxic smoke - is a double whammy, and the response of the government has deepened the pains of the residents and raised the fears that they could face a repeat of the 1953 disaster that wiped off the ancient Koluama community,” the party said in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
It strongly criticized the “kid gloves” with which the government has treated Chevron, noting that it contrasts sharply with the way oil firms responsible for pollution are treated elsewhere around the world.
The government’s poor approach, the ACN said, has worsened the misery and hardship in the area, poisoned the river and ruined the main source of livelihood (fishing). It said this shows total lack of protection for the people, while the oil firm responsible is engaging in tokenism in the name of response, instead of being made to pay a massive fine in addition to a thorough clean-up of the affected area.
It regretted that President Goodluck Jonathan has visited the Koluama community only once since the incident, and even then did no more than commend the people for their 'peaceful' reaction to the disaster that has befallen them. It said he has neither gone back there nor read the riot act to Chevron. And the fact that the government officials, including the Minister of Petroleum who also visited the area, did so in a Chevron helicopter and accepted rides in the firm's boat – as reported in the media - has virtually shut their mouths from any meaningful protest,” the statement said.
The ACN contrasted that with the handling of the massive 2010 oil spill in the United States by BP. “President Barack Obama visited the affected site three times in as many weeks, the firm was compelled to make huge funds available for clean-up operations, in addition to huge fines, issuance of more licenses for oil exploration in the sea was stopped and a senior BP official had to go - and one will see a government (in Nigeria) that has allowed oil firms to ride roughshod over its people.”
Turning to other examples, the ACN noted that:
• ''This week, Brazilian prosecutors say they will bring criminal charges against 17 executives from Chevron and drilling contractor Transocean, after a new leak of crude. The executives have also been barred from leaving the country until the investigation concludes.
• ''In February 2011, a court in Ecuador fined the same Chevron that is being treated with kid gloves in Nigeria 8 billion US dollars for polluting the Amazon Region. Nine months later, the Brazilian government slammed the same Chevron with a 28 million-dollar fine for causing an oil spill off the country's coast, while prosecutors demanded US$10.6 billion for environmental damage. Yet, in Nigeria, Chevron and other oil firms have decimated farmlands, polluted rivers and waterways and exposed many to toxic wastes and fumes through their carelessness, without facing any fine or being made to pay compensation to the affected people. This is not right and should stop immediately.'
The party urged the various individuals and groups that have been campaigning to ensure a better deal for communities in the oil region to call the attention of the federal government, especially the
President, to the need for erring oil companies to pay compensation for their acts of omission, clean up the mess they have made in the region and pay huge fines that could serve as a deterrent and encourage best practices in their oil exploration and related activities.
''The government must stop acting in a manner that suggests that it prefers oil companies to its own people, or that all it is interested in are the windfalls from oil exploration, rather than the well being of
the people in the oil communities,'' it said. ''If a pollution in the President's backyard can be treated with so much levity by government officials and rapacious oil firms, there is need for all Nigerians to worry.''
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FG RESPONSE: ACN MISSES THE MARK ON THE KOLUAMA GAS EXPLOSION
My attention has been drawn to the press release by the National Publicity Secretary of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Alhaji Lai Mohammed, accusing President Goodluck Jonathan and the Federal Government of not doing enough to provide succour for the victims of the gas explosion incident in Koluama, Bayelsa State. Indeed, the ACN said "the response of the government has deepened the pains of the residents and raised the fears that they could face a repeat of the 1953 disaster that wiped off the ancient Koluama community".
Having visited the Koluama community in Bayelsa State in the company of Mr. President, I can confidently assert that nothing could be further from the truth than the statement by the ACN Publicity Secretary.
The gas explosion incident at the Chevron platform in Koluama occurred at the height of the fuel subsidy crisis, but the Federal Government gave priority attention to the matter by setting the necessary machinery in motion to manage the disaster.
The President promptly dispatched the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Allison-Maduekwe, to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment to determine its extent and what needed to be done to relieve the suffering of the community and ensure that the threat to the people's lives and livelihood was contained.
The President personally visited Koluama community on February 27, 2012 to amongst other things, empathise with the community and confirm the requirements for addressing the damage done to the community. On his entourage were the Ministers of Petroleum Resources, Environment and the Niger Delta, the Directors-General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) as well as top officials of the Bayelsa State Government. Mr. President spent quality time listening to the concerned eight communities and the presentation of their harmonized position paper in which they articulated their short and long term needs.
After the President’s visit, the Presidential Adviser on Niger Delta Matters, Mr. Kingsley Kuku visited the island on March 6, on the direct orders of President Jonathan to commence skill acquisition programme for youths and women in the affected communities. The President further directed the Ministry of Environment to conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in collaboration with Chevron.
To meet the people's immediate needs, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Chevron, the Ministries of Environment and Niger Delta Affairs, were also directed to assist the communities and indeed they have been doing so by providing relief materials and other forms of assistance. Also in February, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had sent relief materials to the eight communities affected by the gas explosion.
Under pressure from the government, the company involved, Chevron Nigeria Limited, working in concert with NOSDRA, put out the fire in the first week of March, while the Federal Government is working with the company to ensure that compensation is paid to the host communities.
The Ministry of Environment in collaboration with government agencies such as the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and NOSDRA, have been at the site of the explosion, monitoring the environmental impact of the disaster and taking proactive measures to contain the spread of gas radiation or gaseous hydrocarbon leakage just as the University of Benin has been mandated to launch an independent health assessment of local residents to manage any health risks from this incident.
All these are occurring even as an independent environmental consultant, Fugro Nigeria Limited, was brought in to commence the testing of air, sea/river water, sediment, soil, fisheries and vegetation to determine any impact on the environment to complement the efforts of governmental agencies already at work at the site.
It is not true that the Federal Government is treating Chevron with “kid gloves.” President Jonathan has been actively involved with the Koluama communities since his days as Deputy Governor and Governor of Bayelsa State; he understands their plight.
It is also not true that all the President “did was to praise the people for their “peaceful’ reaction to the disaster that has befallen them,” as claimed by Alhaji Mohammed. Alhaji Mohammed should resist the temptation to weep more than the bereaved. I would like to remind him that accidents involving oil spills and fires and other environmental disasters arising from the oil industry are complicated and are not matters that you rush over. In these matters, inordinate haste could amount to waste.
May I also remind the ACN Publicity Secretary that it took about 85 days to stop the release of crude oil after the April 2010 British Petroleum (BP) oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in the United States. Even till today, British Petroleum and the U.S. government are still not done working out the details of compensation to be paid to the victims.
In the case of the Koluama gas explosion, Nigeria has already achieved a lot. We have put out the fires, initiated the process of compensation for the victims and met their immediate needs through the provision of relief materials.
Reuben Abati
Special Adviser (Media &Publicity) to the President
March 19, 2012
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