{"id":4546,"date":"2022-09-01T15:03:01","date_gmt":"2022-09-01T15:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/erafoen.org\/newerafoen\/field-report\/field-report-narrative-spdc-waste-disposal-line-devastates-odimodi-creeks\/"},"modified":"2022-09-01T15:03:01","modified_gmt":"2022-09-01T15:03:01","slug":"field-report-narrative-spdc-waste-disposal-line-devastates-odimodi-creeks","status":"publish","type":"field-report","link":"https:\/\/erafoen.org\/?field-report=field-report-narrative-spdc-waste-disposal-line-devastates-odimodi-creeks","title":{"rendered":"FIELD REPORT (NARRATIVE): SPDC Waste Disposal Line Devastates Odimodi Creeks.\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Location<\/strong>: Odimodi Community, Burutu LGA, Delta State.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alleged Date of Incident<\/strong>: 19th<\/sup> August 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Site Visited By ERA\/FoEN<\/strong>: 25-26th<\/sup> August 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.0 Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Odimodi community originated from Amatu in present-day Bayelsa State and it is the headquarters of Iduwini Kingdom in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State. The community has an estimated population of 15,000 people. The functional leadership structure in the Ijaw-speaking tribe is made of the community chairman and his executives that oversee all the community activities and representations. The women’s wing has the chair-lady and her executives who oversee the women’s activities and orientations. The youths have the youth president and his executives who oversee the youth activities and act as the workforce of the community. Both the women and youth leadership arm report to the chairman of the community especially when he is in the good books of the people. The youth are also intolerant when it comes to issues that undermine the entire Iduwini Kingdom. They challenge pollution, fight for employment and detest divide and rule by oil multinationals and their cronies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The community has three (3) major quarters namely the Ifikorowei, the senior son of the founder of the community, the Ifiye, and the Imbe\/Bomuzouwei. The majorities of the women are very productive and hardworking and majorly engage in fishing activities. While others engage in farming activities to feed their families. Communities around the Iduwini Kingdom including Odimodi are host communities to Shell, Agip, and other companies. It is also part of the Forcados terminal, trans Ramos pipeline, SPDC export line, loading platform, Agip Beniboye cooked wells, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The activities of the oil industries have constantly resulted in oil spills that cause environmental pollution on land and water bodies as well as waste disposal lines from the companies pouring sludge into the water bodies. Crude pipelines passing through the community are another source of the oil spill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The attention of ERA\/FoEN was drawn to another incident of toxic spills from Shell\u2019s facilities in the Odimodi Community that caused the death of hundreds of fish along the creek of the Odimodi Community. On Sunday, August 21, 2022, ERA\/FoEN received a distress call from the community reporting spill of waste petroleum products that spewed from Shell\u2019s waste disposal pipeline that carries products from the Focardos Shell\u2019s terminal down to the high sea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"This pipeline has been in the community for more than five decades and consistently leaks waste petroleum products from the valves of the pipeline. The vegetation of the environment where these droplets are found and the water body is constantly brownish in color. This incident was reported by motorcyclists who noticed the massive spilling of waste petroleum products into the creeks to the community. This alarm necessitated ERA\/FoEN to ascertain how far the waste petroleum products have spread and the havoc it has wrecked on the creek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.0 Community Testimonies<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ambassador Dere Podoki\u2026 Community PRO<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week Wednesday, August 17, 2022, we received a telephone call from the motorcyclists in the community that the valve on Shell\u2019s wastewater disposal pipeline was faulting and spilling toxic chemicals into the creek of Odimodi community with dead fishes visibly seen floating on the water body. The community confirmed the information to be correct when they rushed to the site. The incident allegedly occurred on August 19, 2022, and the community has made some swift moves by reporting to Shell (owners of the facility) and NOSDRA (the regulator). Both bodies are yet to respond to the letters from the community as at the time the field investigation was made by ERA\/FoEN. The community confirmed to have met Shell staff at the facility that confirmed to them that the incident was a result of equipment failure (broke valve) but denied not being the responsible department to discuss anything with the community or to respond to the incident. The spill site is not so close to where people are residing the creek served as one of the fishing sites for most of the community folks and it also served as a source of water for domestic use for some homes. Apart from dead fishes seen floating, oil sheen was also seen visibly floating on the surface of the water. The affected areas are producing an offensive odour which is one of the reasons why the fishes in the creek are dying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"Fish ponds belonging to Mr. Fred Obi (Former DSP of Police) and others have been affected as well and other people are still recounting their loss. Up till the date that the incident was documented by ERA\/FoEN field monitors, Shell has not fixed the broken valve, but the company has been able to shut down the line. A similar incident was confirmed to have happened in 2020 but the difference was that the wastewater and crude products spewed only on land but with much impact as well. Shell repaired its facility but failed to clean the environment and there was no compensation for the crops and other vegetation\/economic trees destroyed. Shell is known to have demonstrated an unprofessional way of responding to spills in the Odimodi environment by cleaning only the spill point and ignoring the affected areas by the spill. A practical example is the fact that the spillage that occurred in 2020 is still visible in affected places in the Odimodi community even when Shell has been certified to have completed the cleanup process. The community also confirmed that they have noticed that the regulators usually compromised their standards. The fishes found dead on the water that some community folks picked from different parts of the creek that they thought was because of natural death, we reported to have had a bitter taste and offensive odour. Most people are afraid that their health will be badly affected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alex Awese \u2013 45-year-old fisherman and a motorcyclist with 5 children<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We confirmed the valve of the pipeline that carries and usually discharges Shell\u2019s waste petroleum products from the Forcardos Shell terminal and tank farm into the deep sea to have been broken as a result of equipment failure when I was transporting a passenger to Ogulagha community. The petroleum substances spewed into the burrow pit creek from the facility are very toxic because it was still able to kill the fishes in the creek even though the creek is not static but a flowing one. Dead fishes were visible from the spilled point to about three kilometers away from the spilled point. Similar incidents have been happening, but this is the first time, that people are noticing the toxic nature of the wastewater produced from oil production. The creek is the fishing site for some of us but as we speak our livelihoods are threatened because since the incident happened, we can hardly notice the movement of fish in the creek, and we are even afraid to go there to fish for now to avoid eating contaminated fish. For this reason, the community has declared that area a no-fishing zone. If we can take care of their facilities in our environment, they too should also take care of our environment and sources of livelihood. It is unfair for Shell to use their facilities and their operations to punish us. If our people break or spoil any of their facilities that were never kept under our care, the company will raise alarm and throw our people into jail and use Nigeria\u2019s army that was meant to protect us to intimate our people with death threats. For more than a week now Shell has not done anything to alleviate the suffering of the affected community people, but if it were to be a case of pipeline vandalism, our people would have been thrown into jail. We do not obstruct Shell’s activities or harm their facilities but their activities and facilities keep harming us. Our people need to be compensated for the losses they have recorded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brakemi Endoro:- 42-year-old Camp owner at\u00a0 Odimodi Burrow Pit Creek, and father 3 children<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The disposal of water has killed all our fish. As a family man, I have never done any other job to canter for my family rather than fish at the Burrow Pit Creek (the affected creek). This incident has made me jobless and pushed me and my children into real hardship. I am so frustrated at the moment because I am afraid that my children might die of hunger. We are calling on ERA\/FoEN to help us to get justice because if nothing is done our people will keep suffering and Shell\u2019s inaction will keep repeating itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comrade Tarede Ebiarede \u2013 Youth President of Odimodi \u2013 father of 3 kids \u2013 and 35 years old<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want to start with this incident; I call it a spill because it has produced the same impacts as crude oil spillage. On August 20, 2022, I and my team visited the site; I took some pictures and made some videos as a way of documenting the impacts of the spillage of the waste petroleum-produced water. While we were at the site, Shell staff that came on inspection met us there and confirmed that it was an equipment failure. \u00a0We became afraid that another pandemic has happened when we started seeing dead fishes floating on the creek. We have received reports from some of our community folks that consumed the fish that the fish have a bitter taste. Since SPDC started operation in our environment, our community that had lived in harmony with nature and everyone became a disaster a war zone. For a long time now there had been droplets of wastewater from the valve and if you go to the spill point all the vegetation cover has been killed and now this massive wastewater spills. The 25% quota given to the Odimodi people was just written down on paper but in a practical sense, we are not seeing any tangible benefit. What is visible from Shell\u2019s operation is the high level of division and rules and oil-money-induced leadership tussles in the Odimodi community. We have no business blackmailing Shell because we mind our business a lot because we already know that we are on our own as Shell does not mean well to our people. So, if you see us speaking against Shell is because she has polluted our environment, destroyed our livelihoods, and short-changed us. We are using this medium to call for a joint investigation visit (JIV) to assess the extent of damage so that the right compensation package can be organized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mrs. Michael Silver \u2013 Women Leader- 45-year-old<\/strong> mother of 8 children and fisherwoman<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crude is supposed to be a blessing to us but it turned out to be a parable of bitterness to our people, especially to the women and children of Odimodi Community. We venture into any business or any life productive journey by looking up to our river as the source to make money to raise money to do all that we need to accomplish in life including feeding and sending our children to school. That river that serves as our source of only hope has now been polluted by crude oil which has made fishing difficult. Our new nets easily get destroyed due to the crude oil found in our water bodies. Because of the decline in our fishing activities, we often turn to the picking of water snails (periwinkle) along the Bank of the river, this too has been rendered unproductive. Our women must travel to distant places before they can manage to have some catch. Most of our women have been bitten by snakes because they go too deep into the mangrove swamps in search of periwinkles. There are frequent cases of medical conditions like rashes, eye problems (almost all Odimodi women have eye problems), cough & catarrh, and heart arch. Our mangrove forest which serves as shoreline protection has been wiped out by crude oil pollution. We are asking Shell to restore our environment back to the way they met it and ensure that they give scholarships to our children that are already dropping out of school at all levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DSP Fred Obi (retired), over 60 years and an owner of a fish camp at the Burrow Pit Creek in Odimodi Community<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I retired in 2017, I came into fish farming, and I established fish ponds on the shore and off the shore but when the 2018 pollution came all the fish I had all died and none was left. At a time I relied on the life mangrove fish ponds (deep by the mangrove that retains water and fish during low and high tides) that became unproductive as a result of the spill. All the fish I imported and stocked died because of the pollution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"At the moment the 2018 spill is still visible in the creek (the mound under the river is soaked in crude). Before the spill, I can easily catch a lot of Bonga fish and the small fishes I also used as fish feeds have all gone. My major demand is that Shell should restore the environment and compensate me for the loss because their spill swept away my retirement benefit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observation\/Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Odimodi Community has become a polluted colony with unaddressed crude oil spillage of 2018 and the August 19, 2022 wastewater spillage. Despite the fact that the people relied on fishing as their major source of livelihood, Shell’s inaction has continued to wreak havoc on the people’s fishing economy. Shell and Nigeria\u2019s government need to declare an environmental emergency on the Odimodi community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.0 Recommendation from ERA\/FoEN<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Shell must as a matter of urgency return to the community to conduct the post-impact assessment and put machinery, please to clean up all affected areas in the community by the crude spillage of 2018 and the present pollution from the wastewater disposal pipeline.<\/li>
  2. All ongoing oil-induced inter and intra-community conflicts should be resolved with all fairness.<\/li>
  3. Affected community people should be compensated for the economic hardship meted to them by the oil industries.<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-4546","field-report","type-field-report","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erafoen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/field-report\/4546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erafoen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/field-report"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erafoen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/field-report"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erafoen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}