Director of Mother Earth Foundation, Nnimmo Bassey, has raised an alarm over a pipeline explosion in Awoye, Ondo State.
Bassey, during the 10th anniversary of HOMEF, yesterday, in Abuja, said: “How can we have an agency regulating that sector and in the last three years, nothing is being said about the exploded pipeline.
According to him, the pipeline located at Ororo 1 oil field, exploded since April 2020.
Speaking on the move by oil companies to relocate offshore or to their home countries, Bassey stressed the need for Nigeria to have clear policies and guidelines on how such divestment can be done because, he said, Nigerian companies should not be made to buy someone’s liability without having the capacity or readiness to rectify the damage done.
“If Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil want to leave Nigeria, they must be mandated to clear up their mess or make sufficient payment. Bayelsa State Government, in a recent report, said they need $12 billion to clean up the state, but to me that could just be the beginning, Bayelsa is the most polluted region in the whole world” he opined.
Bassey however called for environmental audit of the Niger Delta region and said the lessons learnt from the Ogoni cleanup should be used for the cleanup of the entire region.
On the allegations by Asari Dokubo that oil thieves are aided by the military, the environmentalist said it was a mistake for Nigeria to abandon her economic pathway to delve into the petroleum business, saying the decision destroyed Nigeria
He added: “The government needs to wake up to do what needs to be done because the local people, who are the victims are being blamed for oil theft, but no ordinary citizen can have easy access to pipeline because they always have a heavy military presence and no ship can escape Nigeria waters without being arrested.”