BODO SPILL: ONE TOO MANY – TRANSPARENCY IN JIV PROCESS
By Katherine Abayomi
Yet another oil spill in Bodo community located in Gokana local Government Area (Ogoni) of Rivers State.
The spill happened on Thursday July 4,2014 at about 12:45am in the Sugi area of Bodo Community, this is another environmental setback to the people of Bodo for it has been recorded in the community to have previously had multiple oil spills have occurred in recent times on the Trans- Nuger pipeline (TNP) operated by Shell petroleum Development Company of Nigeria(SPDC) Ltd.
An Environmental Advocacy Group ,Eco Defense Alliance in a press statement signed by the organisation Coordinator Comrade Damian Gbogbara stated that they have lost count of oil spill incense in Bodo duo to incessant occurrences and warned that caution should be exercised by relevant authorities in the quest to find out the cause of the spill and subsequent closure of the leaked pipes to avoid any crisis in the community.
The community Based Environmental Advocacy group further states :
“Again ,there is the need for transparency in the whole process from constituting the JIV team to it implementation and its final result to avoid any form of crisis as witnessed the other time.
“The JIV report will help to hold the companies to account and also served as evidence based documents for possible litigation on the ecosystem destruction ,and safe the fragile Bodo Ogoni and Niger Delta Environment especially with the ongoing Clean up exercise by the Bodo mediation Initiative (BMI) beside the Hydrocarbon pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) Coordinated clean up gearing up to start in the area.”.
Gbogbara stated that the JIV report is very important as it would help to determine the cause of the spill,its volume of spill and extent of damage to the environment and Eco system. He warned against any attempt to manipulate the JIV process and its outcome.Their reports shows that the spill is allegedly caused by equipment failure.
In a similar vein,In an exclusive interview with Comarde Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface an environmental Justice Activist and Executive Director, Youth and Environmental Advocacy Center(YEAC- Nigeria) that with its strong grassroot network,they are poised to raise awareness to relevant networks,Verify ,do a statement, he says in Bodo the breaking news is not when a spill happens but the time that passes with out an oil spill,so he calls on the regulators for JIV to be done and the parties involved held accountable.
