You are here: > The Issues > Oil spills > "We are dying" - Vast expanses of land torched by Agip following oil spills

"We are dying" says chief after vast expanses of land torched by Agip following oil spills in Emago-Kugbo

Top: The land smoulders following the burning of the spill site by oil company operatives.
Bottom: The river is still used for navigation despite running thick with crude oil.

Oil was first discovered by Shell in the Niger Delta at the Oloibri Oil field in 1957. Soon an access road was built and by the 1960's a jetty was constructed at Emago-Kugbo to ferry the crude oil for export.

It is from here, 5 decades later, that Environmental Rights Action (ERA) have filed their latest report showing the devastating impact the industry had left behind in its wake.

The images and testimonies on this page show the sheer scale of the problems faced by communities across the Niger Delta.

These are forest people, these are fishermen and women, hunters, farmers and gatherers. Their waters are ruined, their forests burned, and the air around them acrid with the stench of destruction and foul fumes.

One crop, the Mamacoco yam, has completely died out in Emago-Kugbo.

Mamacoco is a type of cocoyam cherished by locals for it flavour and the fact it is very easy and quick to cook. With the increased burning of spill sites by the oil companies along with the flaring of gas, this fragile but vital crop has disappeared completely from the area to the dismay of farmers.

This loss of subsistence, combined with the fact that all sources of drinking water are also severely impacted, is having serious implications on the health of local people.

But the damage is not limited to these immediate environments. These oil spills and fires have far-reaching effects on the entire Niger Delta as, like the gas flares, the smoke spreads on the wind to other areas and falls as acid rain to settle on distant crops and dissolve in far-off bodies of water.

Testimonies from local people

Okoni Bob

"This latest spill and fire occurred on 22nd January, 2011; Saturday night. We have had several oil spills and fire in this environment in recent times. As you can see, the contractor who just finished clamping left some steel materials behind because he envisaged that he will return again in the near future for another clamping. That is why he has left that material. We are suspecting that the clamping contractors have hand in these oil spills in our environment..."

Winfred Olaghodien

"The spill and fire occurred on the 22nd of January, 2011. Agip only succeeded in putting off the fire about 5 days after the incident. It has not only destroyed farmlands and farms, our water in the bush and creek has been affected. Apart from what you have seen here if you go to our community river you will weep for us. The oil spill has spread to the river, our only source of drinking, bathing, washing and all other things we do with water. And, this is how we have been suffering over the years whenever the crude finds its way into the river. But, even when the implications are grave, there is no time Agip has actually cleaned up oil spill in our environment. They will just be interested in clamping the spill point. And, once they succeeded in doing clamping, off they go"

David Akpalakpa

"We are not gaining anything from Agip. We don’t have any health facility, no water and no electricity. And, when there are health related complications we sometimes either take the victim by boat to Rivers State or we manage to rush the person through this long and bad road to seek help in Yenagoa. Sometimes such persons even die before we get to the hospital. The type of neglect we suffer from government and the oil companies is too much"

Miss Fubi Robin

"You can see the close proximity between the polluted creek and my house. And we leave here with the children, facing this poison day and night. It has not been easy, especially as there are no alternatives in terms of where to live, use of water and even the air we breathe. Talking about how we are surviving, it is by the grace of God. This is not the first time we are experiencing crude oil pollution on our creek, it has become a reoccurring decimal here. Unfortunately the company concerned has never for once come to clean up the crude oil so spilled. We have also lost the mamacoco that was once a favorite food because of all this oil spills and fire."

Virile Obom

"I want to say that we are a very peace loving people. We don’t know the cause of the oil spills, yet we are the ones to suffer the effects of the fire and crude oil pollution. As I talk to you we don’t have alternative sources of drinking water, no electricity in the community and no good access road. As you came you must have seen how difficult it is to access this community. It is worse in the rainy season. Both the government and oil companies have forgotten that it was from here that the first crude oil for export were loaded and shipped abroad. Yet, see how neglected we are and still suffering the negative impacts of crude oil exploitation. Must we only see the negative side of crude oil?"

Chief J.O.Walters-Imodo [Acting paramount ruler, Emago-Kugbo]

"You may not be aware, but let me tell you that the first place where crude oil was loaded and shipped out from the Niger Delta, the loading base, was here. Last year we experienced series of oil spills in our environment. Unfortunately the attitude of Agip fell below expectation. Agip has never deemed it fit to approach us when they are going to either stop the spill of carry us along of Joint Investigation Visits [JIV] to ascertain the cause of spills and fire. Even up till now, Agip is yet to visit my community in relation to the latest in the series of oil spill/fire here. Soon after such spills they set fire on the area. And this has grave effect on our livelihood. Apart from fishes and other animals that die, most of the forest resources and water bodies we depend on are destroyed. These included timber trees of different kinds, medicinal herbs, etc. Sometimes Agip will access the spill sites with militants or soldiers and, after effecting clamping they will just disappear; until there is another spill. The company has never bothered about the impacts of these spills on our community. In fact, we are dying. Last year we lost children in this community as a result of the pollution of our only source of drinking and bathing. These children who died in large numbers has similar health conditions before they died. We appeal to relevant agencies of government and Agip to send us relief materials provide water for us in the community and construct a benefiting access road to link us with other parts of Rivers and Bayelsa States. We also need health centre here too, because it takes so long a distance and time to seek and obtain medical attention from here. If only the government and Agip will assist us."