Rivers community Ofiomina-ama Alakiri wia fire dey burn on top water ova two years

You don see wia fire dey burn on top water? For ova two years, na so fire dey burn on top di river for Ofiomina-ama Alakiri Oil well 9 for Ofiomina-ama Alakiri community for Koniju town, Okrika local govment area of Rivers State for Southern Nigeria.

Di river dey boil kputu-kputu, crude oil and fire dey comot from di same spot. Evri wia dey hot with a choking smell from di effluent.

Di sight dey unbelievable but e dey happun koro-koro and e don pollute di entire river wey be say fish no dey dia again and e don kill most of di mangroves for di area.

On top di river, crude oil dey flow and na so thick crude oil plaster di roots of di mangroves and chicoco mud. No crab. No oyster. No periwinkle. Notin. Just crude oil and fire ontop di water.

Di community pipo say dis fire don dey burn continuously for ova two straight years since 2024.

According to Allen Gabriel Tomoni, Ofiomina-ama Alakiri youth leader, na for 26 February 2024 di fire burst wen contractors for company wey from NNPC 18 Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of NNPC wey dey operate di oil well, bin dey carry out some maintenance works.

"As di fire burst dem try to quench am, no way so dem abandon am and since dat time for 2024 till now, na so dem leave dis place for us. Fire don dey burn like dis for ova two straight years and nobodi don do anytin about am."

Tomoni wey also be di Speaker for Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide say dem don formally write and complain to di company wey dey operate di oil well, write both di federal and state govments and all di regulatory bodis wey dey concerned but dem neva do anytin to stop di fire.

"We feel abandoned becos we don write to all di pipo wey suppose do somtin about dis fire both for state and federal govments and even di company but till now wey me and you dey tok, dem neva do anytin about am. We no be human being?

See as di whole environment dey polluted. Di air sef pesin no fit breathe well, e dey choke us. All our children dey suffer one sickness or di oda, dia bodi rashes full, e good? And di company still dey badge crude oil right in front of our community witout doing anytin to off dia fire!"

Directly opposite di jetty of Ofiomina-ama Alakiri community, badging of crude oil by NNPC OML 18 into vessels dey go on from di flow station and dis na anoda cause for concern for di community.

Alagbariya Bristol of IYC say dis dey raise safety concerns for di pipo of di community.

"Dis one wey dem dey badge di crude oil rightbin front of di community no dey safe dem suppose shift dis badging activity away from di community.

What if fire burst as e burst for di oil well, wia be di muster point for di community pipo? How dem go fit run comot.

Den tok about di air quality - on di left na di smoke and effluent from di flow station wey dey come from gas flaring and on di right na smoke from di fire wey dey burn on top di water.

All na di community pipo dey breathe am - how dis dey go on for dis length of time witout any action from govment?" e ask.

‘Dis fire don spoil our livelihood’

Apart from di environmental pollution, di fire wey dey burn ontop water for Ofiomina-ama Alakiri community also don affect di livelihood of di pipo as dem mostly be fishermen, but for di continuous pollution, fish no dey for di river again.

Lydia Ibifubara Gilbert, a periwinkle seller from di community say, di pollution don kill all di fish and aquatic life for di area.

"Bifor dis fire burst, na leg we dey take waka through di angala [mangrove] go pick isam [periwinkle], cut imgbe [oyster], we go use our net catch oporo [crayfish] near us here go house. But all dat one no dey again.

We get to paddle veri far pass Cotton Channel dey go towards Bonny side, more dan 20 kilometres bifor we fit fish or do all dis tins . Me I no dey strong as I dey bifor so na buy I dey buy di periwinkle and see how small dem dey."

She say dis don affect her as she no fit sell as she dey do bifor and sake of dat her son get to drop out of university as she no fit meet up.

"A bag of periwinkle wey be 8 custard rubber now na eight thousand naira, somtin wey be two thousand naira bifor - so na di one we fit do we dey buy for small small quantities. We no dey fit meet up again."

Even di water for di community dey polluted, di women say wen dem fetch di water afta sometime, e go turn to brown colour with rust sediments so dem get to buy water to drink.

”Even wen you baff di water, your bodi go dey pinch you like say pin dey chill you. Make dem help us abi we no be Nigerians?

Odas get health concerns especially for dia children as many of dem get skin rashes and breathing problems.

‘Dis na environmental terrorism’

"Dis na act of environmental terrorism to allow dis fire to dey burn like dis for dis long for ova two years," na so Dr Isaac Osuoka wey be environmentalist wit Social Action International describe am.

"Dis kain tin dey shock me. Dis one na criminal act wey be say equipment failure happun for oil facility wia dem dey do dia operation and fire dey burn.

"Not only dat, crude oil dey flow evriwia for di creek and water and e don dey happun ova two years and di company wey dey responsible neva do anytin to shut dat fire, e dey bad and even di regulatory agencies sef no care, e dey veri bad."

E call on di federal govment to urgently take action to stop di fire and pollution and pay compensation to di community wey don dey suffer all dis while.

Wetin NNPC tok about dis incident?

NNPC say dem don award di Alak-9 well fire kill operation to one internationally recognized well control and intervention contractor, wey dey work in partnership wit dia Nigerian technical team.

Tok tok pesin for NNPC, Andy Odey tell BBC Pidgin say dis approach go ensure compliance with global industry standards even as dem dey leverage on local expertise.

"Specialized well control and firefighting equipment don dey secured and dey undergo mandatory HSE (Health, Safety, and Environment) certification for Port Harcourt. All preparatory activities wey include site surveys, access routes, and ground preparation dey complete and verified to support safe mobilization and execution of di intervention."

Odey say concerning di deployment timeline, core technical personnel dey expected to arrive Nigeria dis week, and and dem go start operational integration wit local teams and relevant authorities.

"Full site mobilization dey scheduled for next week, wit active field intervention activities to follow immediately diaafter."

NNPC Limited add say dem fully recognize community and public concerns sake of how long di fire don dey burn.