- HRH Sukuruowei
From Okolobiri comes the alarm by natives, that the continued gas flare from the Gbarain integrated gas plant owned and run by Shell, now Renaissance Oil Firm, is killing the people, destroying their aquatic life as well as the solar street lights mounted in the area by the NDDC.
These were revealed by the natives to a team of environmentalists from the Environment Defenders Network, EDEN, with some journalists. The community dwellers say their people were dying in droves because of the continued flare of gas.
Okolobiri is one of the communities in the Gbarain kingdom in Yenagoa local government area of Bayelsa State and is host to the Bayelsa state owned Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital and is close to Obunaha.
Paramount Ruler of Okolobiri, HRH Judah Sukuruowei told the visiting team that ‘’recently we have been experiencing serious vibration because of the gas flare at neighbouring Obunagha community.
“The flaring [volume] is too high. In the night, if you are not careful enough you will be feeling that people are trying to rob your house. You will be seeing all the windows vibrating; all the windows and the doors would be vibrating.
“Sometimes, I will wake up and check whether something is happening. So, as you are here, I would like you to move around the community and experience this impact I am talking about.
“The gas flaring is affecting the buildings in the environment; even our water. We don’t have good water to drink. Our people rely on our river water. There is not public portable water. So, even our water in the river is not good enough for drinking again.
“The roofing sheets [zinc] and our water are affected. Health wise, we are affected; as we are inhaling the noxious gases it is affecting our health. The rate of death has increased in our environment too; even very young children are dying unexpected deaths.
“It is the gas flaring that is affecting the environment; seriously. So, please the government should do something about it. The volume of the gas flaring is getting higher, which is affecting our environment’’.
Also, Bright Shadrack Esyine, a Ph.D student from the community, lamented the effect of the gas flare. ‘’We all know, it’s a global fact that when gas is flared it actually results in emission of greenhouse gases. It is part of what I am working on in my thesis.
“It is a very serious problem, it’s really affecting lives and the wellbeing of the people in neighbouring communities; especially like Okolobiri community. Recently we have had a very intense and increased gas flaring resulting in disturbing noise and vibrations to the extent that it is causing walls cracking and destruction of roofs of buildings.
“Also, if you look at the immediate environment close to the gas flare you discover that the vegetation there is like they set fire on it; is burning. It is like this is deliberate. I say so because this thing [increasing the intensity of the flare] happens mainly at certain intervals within the month; maybe when a certain individual assumes office he increases the gas flare with impunity and without recourse to the health and wellbeing of people in the surrounding environment.
“When they increase the volume of gas flared that is when we feel the vibration, noise and cracks on our walls. So, I don’t know how those who are closer to that flare are even surviving. These greenhouse gases are known to cause cancer and other ailments; like you see people just die abruptly because we don’t have the necessary equipment and facilities to check the cause of death.
“They just die and we don’t know the cause of death; which is not proper and normal in our environment prior to this gas flare. My call is simple. There are standard procedures provided by the international community on how to flare gas.
“There are agencies responsible for monitoring the level of greenhouse gases that are being emitted by these companies. And we supposed to have state government responsibility; probably in the ministry of health combining with the ministry of environment [ the people who knows much about this activity ] on how we can work with the oil companies on how to be flaring this gas without serious harmful effects on the society’’.
The community women leader, Tuaweri Keniwenimo who spoke on the matter said ‘’this gas flaring is affecting us badly from the very beginning of the flaring in our environment.
“Most women in the community built houses and support our husbands through farming. Due to the gas flaring crops are not as productive as they used to be. It is the same thing with fishing; fishing efforts are not yielding much again. Even the little catch, we discover they are tasteless.
“We suffer a lot, children getting sick frequently; including mothers and people are dying anyhow. Even the roofs of our buildings are getting damaged. We are experiencing many things. One major experience again presently is that Street Solar lights recently installed are getting off anyhow [at night] because of this gas flare.
“Once they increase the flare you will notice many of the solar street lights would go off; just like that. So, we are getting so many bad experiences from this gas flare. My demand is that they should do what is scientifically right to ensure this gas flaring does not harm the environment the way it is currently doing. Also, they should bring us drugs to take care of our health’’.
Secretary of the Community, Barafiai Woyengipreye underscored this position, saying ‘’ I would like to talk about the Solar street lights that are installed in our communities; as part of this light up Niger Delta project of the NDDC.
“All the solar lights that are installed in Gbarain kingdom as a result of power in our communities [we don’t have steady light]; that has been a source of light in our community.
“And the effect we are seeing from the gas flare is that, the solar light goes off at night when the flare is very high; especially the ones with solar panels facing the direction of the flare. Those ones don’t come up at all. But when it [flare] is low, they would come up; reacting to the gas flare. So, this is also part of our observations in the kingdom here’’.
Meanwhile, the deputy executive director, EDEN, Mr Morris Alagoa, has urged the Federal Ministry of Environment, through NESREA, to take the matter as a matter of urgent importance with a view to addressing the lingering issue in the interest of the community.
He has also urged the relevant agencies of the Bayelsa state government, especially Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Mineral Resources to step in on behalf of affected communities to ensure the concerns are address as soon as possible.
TNN made efforts to speak with officials of Shell but there was no response to our messages as at the time of filing this report.
