BEVERLY HILLS, CA, January 14, (THEWILL) – The management of an oil company, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Limited, has been told not to exercise any fear as there is no plan whatsoever to attack the company.
The people of Otonyatsere community in Sapele Local Government Area of Delta State stated this, assuring Seplat that there is no plan to attack the company over an oil spill that occurred in their community last November at the company’s Ovhor line as a result of equipment failure.
The assurance was informed by a media report that the community had issued Seplat a seven-days ultimatum over the spill which had caused them economic hardship.
The community said that they had only insisted on dialogue with the company contrary to media report that they were out for ‘war’.
Chairman of the community, Dr. Austin Arieja, said although the spill had caused his community economic hardship, it was wrong for people to say the community was at ‘war’ with the oil firm.
“What we have insisted is that the company should come for a dialogue with the community. We have asked them to do what is right by compensating the community people who were directly impacted by the spillage.
“We are in support of efforts by the company to bring succour to us. If you notice, a Joint Investigation Visit, JIV, has been done by a team of officials of National Oil Spillage Detection and Response Agency, NOSDRA, Seplat Petroleum Company Ltd, Directorate of Petroleum Resources, DPR and other relevant agencies, and in which over 300 people from the community participated,” he said.
He however lamented that the JIV has not been signed since it was conducted ostensibly because of some seemingly issues by their neighbouring community.
The Sapele-Okpe community, a boundary community with Otonyatsere, has also laid claim to the land where the oil spill occurred thus causing fresh bickering between the two communities over who to sign the JIV report.
“The delay in signing the JIV was caused by a neighbouring Sapele-Okpe community that wanted the company to negotiate with it instead of Otonyatsere community that is directly affected by the spillage.
“They are the cause of the delay and not Seplat.
“The nation’s environmental law states that where a spillage occurs, the company involved should dialogue and compensate the people directly affected.
“In this case, Otonyatsere is the community that is directly affected by this spillage.
“The company should dialogue with us and not Sapele-Okpe community that is not part of our community.
“They (Sapele-Okpe community) are not affected in any way by the spillage but they are the ones currently fomenting trouble by angling for compensation.
“We are a separate community from Sapele-Okpe. We share common boundary and also in one local government area .
“When the JIV was done, over 300 Otonyatsere community people were present; there was no representation from Sapele-Okpe at the JIV which clearly showed that this is not their land .
“We have our signboard conspicuously displayed as an autonomous community which you can see as you enter this community. Are they not seeing it?
“Let Seplat come and do what is right by dialoguing and compensating us because we are the ones directly affected. This is the position of the law,” Arieja explained.
He therefore called on the company to disregard any claim for compensation by any other community.
Arieja also said that the community needs relief materials, medical attention to ameliorate the effect of the spillage on her people.
He accused some staff of the company, particularly the HSE and Community Relations departments for allegedly fuelling the disagreement with intent to short-change Otonyatsere community.
The community chairman said some staff of the company are trying to drag Sapele-Okpe community into the oil spillage issue with intent to hijack the compensation that would eventually come to the people and share same with some folks in the neighbouring Sapele-Okpe community at the detriment of his community which is directly affected by the spillage.
Confirming the spillage, the Base Manager of Seplat Petroleum, Dr Chukumah Igelenyah, said a JIV by the relevant agencies has been conducted.
“All efforts to evacuate the spillage and reach out to the affected people are seriously on course but the squabble between the two communities for superiority and which is the rightful community to sign the JIV has been frustrating all such efforts.
“We don’t take side in things like this. We want them to settle themselves. Once the JIV is signed, I can assure you that everything will be done right within a very short period,” Igelenyah said.
