Rivers Community In Fear As Gas Pipeline Spills Content Into The Environment

Fear in Degema Local Government Area of Rivers State, Tombia
community,
on Saturday, after a gas pipeline
suspected to be conveying compressed natural gas ruptured and
began spilling its content into the
environment.
Residents of the community who were disturbed over the
development called on the authorities, especially the Nigeria
Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG),
said to be operating the facility to
quickly fix the leakage and avert
an explosion in the area.
The Secretary of Tombia
Council of Chiefs, Chief Onimite Abbey, disclosed to Press on Saturday that
the gas leakage had negatively
impacted the environment of
the community, especially their
rivers, which is their main source
of livelihood.
Abbey said: “Last Saturday,
at about 7:30pm, I was called by
the DSS boss, Degema LGA, that
there was a gas explosion in my
community.
“I told him I wasn’t aware and
I quickly responded to the information and went home.
“When I got home, I was taken
to the area. It was a gas leakage!
right in the river. This means it
has destroyed most of our aquatic lives. And as a result we cannot
go fishing any longer.”
On his part, the Chairman,
Degema Community Development Committee, Vincent Abbey,
demanded an immediate clamping of the damaged portion of
the pipeline, adding that he had
earlier contacted NLNG to report
the development yet nothing had
been done.
He expressed his worry that
any spark could ignite an explosion and cause the death of many
in the community.
“NLNG knows the impact of
gas leakage into the open space,
particularly at the place where it
occurred.
“NLNG does not need further
education on the impact of gas
leakage on the environment; they
all know.
“The last time I spoke with
them, they said they were going
to check in their control room to
ascertain the root cause of the
leakage, but since then we have
not heard from them.”
Meanwhile, the Youth President of Tombia community,
Comrade Owen Igbikialabo, has
called on Governor Siminalayi
Fubara to intervene and avert an
imminent loss of lives and property in the community.
He lamented that despite his
efforts to reach out to the company operating the pipeline, they
had yet to visit the area to mitigate the problem.
“I personally called the NLNG
control room to report the situation but they’re yet to take care of
the gas leakage incident.
“We are calling on the Rivers
State government, the governor,
Siminalayi Fubara, to intervene
– this is a very serious issue. It
can cause a fire outbreak in the
entire creek and burn off the
habitats.”
It was learnt that the Nigerian
Liquefied Natural Gas company
had yet to issue any statement
concerning the incident as at the
time this report was filed