An oil spillage has been reported at
Okpeleama community in Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta state.
In a statement on Sunday signed by Messer Yabrade Moses and Abednego Douperegha, Chairman and PRO respectively of the community, the spill has wrecked "severe damage and disruption of fishing and farming activities which is our sole means of survival", the community said.
The community therefore sent a save our souls message to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC) among other relevant agencies over the oil spill which they said has spread to its coasts.
The spillage, according to the statement, was first noticed on Wednesday, 6 January 2015, emanating from the Petroleum Pipeline along Ikpokpo/Okpeleama Creek (parts of the 335.5 hectares of Ikpokpo/Okpele-Ama land already acquired for the EPZ/Deep Sea Port Project).
The statement appealed to Governor Okowa to urgently cause a "joint investigation visit (JIV) to ascertain the impact of the spill and carry out immediate remediation so as to prevent further decay of an already fragile ecosystem".
The community lamented that its present ordeal is coming without recovery from an earlier humanitarian crisis/hunger on most of its inhabitants displaced from parts of its land acquired for the ongoing Escravos EPZ project without compensation or empowerment.
