Protest in Eket over Oil Spill from Mobil

Fresh oil spill has sparked off a protest in Ibeno, Akwa Ibom State as hundreds of residents staged a peaceful demonstration against incessant oil spills from the operations of Mobil in the area.

Sources said soldiers deployed to guard Mobil facilities were involved in a skirmish with the protesting women which left one woman injured. The victim, Mrs.Grace Joshua Etia told THISDAY that she was beaten up by soldiers who inflicted injury on her leg.

“Though our protests were peaceful, the soldiers came hard on defenseless women and beat us up for protesting that the frequency of spills is too much. We had one on December 4 last year, another one happened in March this year and then this one again, and we can no longer catch any fish as a result of this.
“Instead of looking into our complaints and finding solutions to it, they resorted to beating us up and they broke my leg,” she lamented.

However, the National Oil Spill Detection and Response (NOSDRA) and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) are yet to trace the source of oil spill that contaminated Ibeno shoreline in Akwa Ibom State more than a month ago. The latest oil at the Qua Iboe oil fields has added up to the list.
Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPN), operator of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)/MPN Joint Venture has admitted that the source of the fresh oil leak was from one of its pipelines involving the Joint Venture ’s offshore platforms.
“The source of the leak was immediately identified and the pipeline has been isolated. Relevant government and regulatory authorities have been notified”, MPN confirmed.
According to Mobil management, a joint inspection of the incident site by a team comprising representatives of MPN, relevant government and regulatory authorities as well as neighbouring community is being scheduled.
An oil industry labour activist, Chief Samingo Etukakpan, told THISDAY that the spill had impacted the creeks and estuaries in Eket and beyond.
“Findings from Esit Eket, Onna have shown that the spill had impacted other communities in the neighbourhood, yet Mobil chose to only invite Ibeno for a meeting on the current spill, we will make sure that all impacted communities are carried along,” he said.
“We noticed the oil on Monday at the coastline and it has contaminated the land with resultant impact on the environment and marine life and this is a sad news for the fishing community because our fishermen cannot go to sea until the cleanup is carried out” he said.
It was gathered that the mass protest spread to Eket and environs as youths from the area marched round the streets displaying placards and chanting war songs.
Clan Head of Afah Eket in Eket local government Obong Nathaniel Oduneyie, told reporters in Eket that the frequent spills had contaminated fishes and exposed the public to health danger.
“I bought some fresh fish from the market and it was contaminated, the whole pot of soup has been contaminated and I can show you.
“I was informed that there was an oil spill on Saturday, and I went out to see things for myself and the creeks have been stained with crude oil and by the time I came back the youths of Eket came on a protest.
“I have just asked them to embrace dialogue because I am an advocate of peace and I hope the company would not take my peaceful disposition for granted” he said.
It will be recalled that Mobil reported that a pipeline leak on December 4,2009 caused the discharge crude at Idoho oil well in the Atlantic ; another spill incident which contaminated Ibeno shoreline was denied by all oil operators in Akwa Ibom.