Gas fire: Rivers communities, NNPCL/SPDC disagree

President of the youth group, Fiawei Pathfinder, said that vandals only took advantage of the carelessness of the operators

“The fire incident that has plunged Buguma and its environs into a terrible situation could have been avoided had the NNPCL/SPDC JV carried out quarterly checks on the pipelines and oil infrastructures in the salty swamp water where these pipelines and other facilities have been laid for decades and open to the elements in the ecosystem,” Pathfinder said.

”SPDC/NNPCL neither paid attention to the fire as it erupted nor sent an emergency fire incident response team to ascertain the level of the devastation caused by the fire.

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“We are pained that SPDC/NNPCL JV deliberately ignored the people of Buguma community and the entire Kalabari Kingdom, who are major oil and gas-producing communities and kingdoms that contribute a high figure of crude oil and cubic of gas daily to sustain the economy.

“The truth is that these oil infrastructures have decayed, and there is no proper structure to crosscheck or ascertain if they are in good shape because these pipelines have been laid for over how many decades, and no maintenance job has been carried out on them.”

Consequently, the youth council demands that the companies take urgent steps to salvage the Buguma communities and environs, among others.

“That SPDC/NNPCL immediately construct housing structures and health care facilities for the Buguma host community and environs.