By Eseoghene Emuke
Rev. Francis Ejiroghene Waive, member representing the people of Ughelli North, Ughelli South and Udu Federal Constituency at the National Assembly, has urged the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Ltd (NPDC) pay compensation and cleanse the oil spill resulting from the Abura pipeline rupture at Otu-Jeremi Town in Delta State.
The Abura Crude Trunk line operated by NPDC, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had last week burst spilling crude into farmlands and stream at Otu-Jeremi Town in Ughelli Local Government Area of Delta State.
Waive, who appealed to the NPDC to immediately commence remediation works at the affected areas, urged oil multinationals in the country to replace aging pipes to forestall future occurrence that could lead to the lost of lives.
The lawmaker speaking after inspecting the site of the incident, expressed happiness that no life was loss during the incident, and promised to he would liaise with the relevant agency and NPDC to ensure that remediation works begin earnest on the damaged land.
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Represented by his senior political aide, Engr Paul Abadah, demanded that compensation be paid to owners of farmlands and the community for devastation caused by the spillage resulting from the ruptured crude pipeline.
According to him, the rupture was caused by equipment failure, and dismissed insinuation that the incident was caused by third party interference.
The federal lawmaker, who was accompanied by alongside NPDC staff that owns the pipeline and Otu-Jeremi Community executive, promised to raised the issue before his colleagues when the House resumes from its ongoing recess by the National Assembly.
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Narrating their experience to the lawmaker, a community youth leader who simply identified himself as Mr Oghenetega said, “the Abura Trunkline of NPDC explosion was so high thereby throwing Otughievwen community into confusion for about five minutes. We were just running aimlessly until we became sure that, it wasn’t going to spread.
“The incident put the community, particularly those living around the scene in pandemonium for close 30 minutes, with heavy brownish smoke /vapour covering the sky and offensive smell took over air.
“Those of us living in government housing estate and others around the scene vacated our houses for hours for fear of fire outbreak, because of the evil smell and environmental hazards that usually fallow such incidents.
“Our roofs, water tanks, vehicles, crops and others items within about 500 metres around the scene were covered with black and brown oily particles. Till now, nobody pay any attention to our devastating situation.”
