Amid persistent oil spills and gas flares in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region caused by multinational oil companies, two communities, the Eteo Community in Eleme Local Government area of Rivers State and the Okoro-Utip Community in the Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, have demanded an end to the pollution.<\/p>\n
They urge the oil giants to remediate the environment and restore it to its original state.<\/p>\n
These demands were among the resolutions made at a Farmers Community Town Hall meeting on “Land Rights and Fight Against Land Grabbing” organized by the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) at Okoro-Utip Community Hall, Ibeno, Akwa Ibom State.<\/p>\n
Chief Enyina Wilson, the secretary of Okoro-Utip village council, highlighted the challenges faced by his community due to Exxon Mobil’s activities, including oil pollution of rivers and farmlands, incessant gas flaring, and the degradation of their environment. He emphasized the need for environmental justice.<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cAll we want is environmental justice. They should repair and restore our land to its original state. We want these oil companies to stop the gas flares. Our people are dying, and they don\u2019t care about us.\u201d<\/p>\n
On his part, Gabriel Olomi from Eteo Community, Rivers State, called for environmental restoration and financial compensation for people who have lost their means of livelihood to pollution like oil spills, especially the June 2023 spill in his community.<\/p>\n
Recounting his ordeal at the 2023 spills and making some demands, he said, \u201cWe woke up on 13 June 2023 and saw oil all over our streams, in the next one week, we discovered it was NNPC property. They came in the night with armed men and sealed the place, and all the water, drinking water, and fish were destroyed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have written letters to the House of Assembly, to the Senate, the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, and nothing has been done. We want them to bring our land to the original status so that we have back our source of living. My place is like a dead zone, no fishing activities, and no water to drink. We want a total removal of the dilapidated pipes so that such things will not occur again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Amid persistent oil spills and gas flares in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region caused by multinational oil companies, two communities, the Eteo Community in Eleme Local Government area of Rivers State and the Okoro-Utip Community in the Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, have demanded an end to the pollution. They urge the oil […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":315596,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"2","single_blog_custom":"211693","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"0","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"1","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"1","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"0","show_prev_next_post":"0","show_popup_post":"0","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"1"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_override_bookmark_settings":{"override_bookmark_button":"0","override_show_bookmark_button":"0"},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[77506,7690,11435,3505],"class_list":["post-315595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-gas-flares","tag-nigerian","tag-oil-spills","tag-pollution"],"yoast_head":"\n