A Niger Delta Environmental Advocacy group has commenced training of hundreds of fishermen on Coastal Environmental Monitoring and Advocacy in Yenagoa, Bayelsa capital.
The capacity building
programme held in Yenagoa on Friday, is coming amidst ongoing oil and gas leaks
at Aiteo’s oilfields in Nembe and Conoil’s oil block at Sangana in neighbouring
Brass Local Government
The group, Health of
Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) drew participants from oil bearing communities
across Bayelsa.
Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production Ltd on Friday said it is intensifying efforts to stop the ongoing Nov 5 leak from its operations at Nembe in Bayelsa.
The assurance is contained in an update statement signed
by Mr Victor Okoronkwo, Group Managing Director of the indigenous firm made
available in Yenagoa.
The assurance is sequel to Wednesday’s visit by Minister
of State for Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva to the incident site to convey the
concerns of the Federal Government on the pollution.
Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production says it is seeking foreign technical expertise to halt the ongoing Nov 5 oil leak at an oilfield it operates in Nembe, Bayelsa.
The oil firm
in a statement issued by its Spokesman, Mathew Ndianabasi on Sunday noted that
the oil firm has intensified its response by seeking the assistance of other
oil and gas exploration firms in the response to the spill.
The
statement is coming on the heels of a reaction by Gov Douye Diri of Bayelsa who
criticized the pace of response and inability of the oil firm to halt the leak
after more than two weeks and continued pollution of Nembe creks and farmlands.
The National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) on Sunday said that the Nov. 5 oil spill reported at an oil well within Oil Mining Lease (OML) 29 was yet to abate, 10 days afterwards.
It was learnt that officials of NOSDRA deployed to ascertain the cause and estimated volume of crude discharge could not conduct the investigation whilst the leak was still ongoing.
Mr Idris Musa, Director-General of NOSDRA, in an update to the development,said that the leak was yet to be plugged as of Sunday adding that intensity of the leak was hampering investigations at the incident site.
On whether the leak has been capped, the NOSDRA DG said: ,"Not yet, the Clean Nigeria Associates (CNA) , an alliance of all oil firms operating in the country has been called to beefnup oil recovery.
The Ijaw Diaspora Council, (IDC) on Friday called on the Federal government and international community' to halt ongoing oil leak at an oilfield at Nembe in Bayelsa.
It will be
recalled that Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Exploration Company on Nov 5
reported a major leak from its Oil Mining Lease (OML) 29 located in Nembe Bayelsa.
The oil firm
had in a statement issued by its Spokesman, Mathew Ndianabasi described the
incident as a massive one said that it was mobilizing local and international
efforts to end the ongoing leak.
The National Oil Spills Detection and Respose Agency (NOSDRA) on Thursday said the oil spill reported from an oil well within Oil Mining Lease (OML) 29 is yet to abate., according to feedback from officials deployed to the site.
Mr Idris Musa, Director-General of NOSDRA who reacted to the
development, said on Thursday said the intensity of the leak was hampering
investigations at the incident site.
Mr Foubai Pereyi a legal Counsel to six suspended members of KEFFES Rural Development Foundation (KRDF) has apologised for his role in the leadership crisis in the organisation.
KRDF is composed of
eight communities in Southern Ijaw and Brass Local Government Areas in Bayelsa.hosting
the operations of Chevron Nigeria Limited and First Explorations and
Production.
,
The communities are Koluama 1 and 2,
Ezetu 1 and 2, Foropa, Fishtown, Ekeni and Sangana forming the acronym KEFFES
as parties to the Global Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the two oil
firms operating in the area..
