Residents of Akwa Ibom Community Demand Cleanup After Oil Spill

Residents of Ntafre, a hard-to-reach coastal community in Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, are calling for urgent cleanup and compensation after suspected crude oil pollution affected their creek and fishing activities.

This demand came after a Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) to Ntafre Creek on Wednesday, 16 September. This visit happened five days after officials from the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) and the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Environment visited the community because of a reported oil spill.

During the Wednesday visit, participants saw suspected crude oil stains on vegetation, shrubs, and mangrove stems around the creek. PREMIUM TIMES also noticed dead aquatic organisms, including barnacles, in parts of the creek and detected the smell of oil in the area.

NOSDRA, the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Environment, and oil companies took samples of suspected crude oil from stained vegetation, sediment, and water. These samples will go for laboratory analysis and oil fingerprinting to find out which oil company is responsible.

The investigation included NOSDRA, the Akwa Ibom Ministry of Environment, Amni International, Seplat Energy, Tulcan Energy, Savannah Energy, civil society organizations, and PREMIUM TIMES. NOSDRA mentioned that other operators in the area, like TotalEnergies and Sterling Oil, were informed but did not take part in the investigation.

Oando also attended but did not join the inspection of the creek.

Residents Share Their Struggles

The village head of Ntafre, Akpan Bassey, expressed that the community has faced serious infrastructure issues despite being surrounded by oil companies. "We are surrounded by many oil companies. As the nearest community to the ocean where many oil companies operate, we bear the brunt of pollution first. Yet, we have no medical centre or hospital or pipe borne water," Mr Bassey said.

He added that residents are still using available water sources even with fears of contamination. "Even after the oil pollution, we continue to drink the polluted water because we have no alternative," he said.

The youth president of Ntafre, Nelson Smith, revealed that fishers first noticed the pollution early on 10 September while fishing. He said residents detected a strong petroleum smell in the creek and saw crude oil stains on their boats.

Mr Smith mentioned that fish catches have dropped since the incident, affecting the livelihoods of the residents who mostly rely on fishing. He urged for immediate cleanup of the affected environment and compensation for the losses.

Ntafre is one of the 26 gazetted villages in Ibeno and is close to the Atlantic Ocean. The community is hard to reach. The journey to Ntafre begins from Okoroutip Beach with about an hour-long boat ride through the creek, followed by a motorcycle ride from Akata 2 and another boat journey of about 20 minutes into the community. Marine police provided security for the JIV team during the journey.

Visit Shows Changes

Officials who took part in the JIV said the condition seen on Wednesday was different from what they observed during the initial inspection on 11 September, one day after the spill was reported. Iniobong Ochcha from the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Environment was present during the initial visit.

"That first day, oil was everywhere. It was scooped everywhere. Today, we only find stains. We saw stains on the vegetation and the soil," Mr Ochcha said.

Gaxton Okobah, the Assistant Chief Scientific Officer of NOSDRA’s Uyo office, said the agency and the state Ministry of Environment had seen visible crude oil on the water and environment during their 11 September visit. He said the coordinates recorded during the initial inspection helped them locate the affected areas during Wednesday’s visit.

"What we saw today was stained shrubs, stained vegetation, and mangroves," Mr Okobah said. He mentioned that the samples collected during the investigation would go for analysis in a laboratory in Port Harcourt.

"The result of the fingerprinting will not be delayed at all because the agency is interested," he said.

Investigating the Pollution Source

Mr Okobah stated that finding the source of the pollution is very important, especially since similar incidents have happened in the nearby Akata community in May. Investigators could not gather evidence because they arrived late at the site.

"If we did not come on Friday, but probably came only today, we would have gone back with the same impression," he said. He explained that the delay in conducting the JIV was due to the time needed to get the operators to agree on a date for the investigation.

He added that the delay did not stop government officials from acting on the initial spill report from the community. "NOSDRA together with the Ministry of Environment immediately visited the site a day after they were informed and took the necessary evidence," he said.

Mr Okobah noted that the reduced visible crude oil by the time of the JIV shows how important it is to investigate quickly after a spill. He said that investigators would also look into possible sources beyond the obvious pipelines.

"Whenever there is a spill, it does not just appear from nowhere. It is always from a source. What we are looking at is to determine the source because this has reoccurred," he said. He encouraged residents and other stakeholders to report activities that might lead to pollution.

"If there is no pipeline passing through the community then there must be something going on there that we must all work together to unravel," he said.

Oil Companies Respond

Representatives of the oil companies involved in the JIV said they saw stains on vegetation but did not see an oily sheen on the water during the inspection. Joshua Umoh from Seplat Energy, Etimbuk Benson of Tulcan Energy, Maurice Oscar of Savannah Energy, and Gafar Abdullahi of Amni International shared similar observations at a meeting after the field visit.

Mr Benson asked NOSDRA to inspect oil and gas assets around the community to see if any facility had been breached. "The environment and the community there is very important," he said.

Mr Abdullahi said residents could help investigators find the source since they were the first to notice the pollution. Mr Umoh said Seplat is waiting for more details from NOSDRA on the investigation's outcome.

Calls for Cleanup and Support

Peace Point Development Foundation (PPDF), a civil society organization that took part in the JIV, is urging for quick cleanup of the affected environment and a clear scientific investigation into the pollution source. Gloria Thomas, Executive Director of Ala Uchi Women Development Initiative, who is from Ibeno, also called for quick remediation of the affected environment.

Ikpe Ebrewong, Director of Environment at the Ibeno Local Government Council, stated that the suspected pollution came into the community through the Atlantic channel. In a statement on Thursday, PPDF Coordinator Umo Isuaikoh said the reduced visible oil should not mean the environmental threat is gone.

The organization called for the immediate release of laboratory and oil-fingerprinting results and asked authorities to check pipelines and oil facilities around Ntafre. They also want safe drinking water for residents, an assessment of livelihood losses faced by fishers, and proper compensation where losses are found.

PPDF further urged authorities to monitor water, sediment, mangroves, and aquatic life in Ntafre and nearby coastal communities for the long term. The group said the difficulty in accessing Ntafre highlights the need for a rapid-response plan to reach remote coastal communities quickly after pollution reports.

They also called for an investigation into what they called ongoing pollution in the surrounding area. Mr Isuaikoh said a JIV should not be seen as the end of the accountability process.

For Ntafre residents, an oil spill means lost fishing days, lower household income, unsafe water, and harm to the ecosystem they depend on. NOSDRA said the samples collected during the investigation would be analyzed in Port Harcourt to help pinpoint the source and characteristics of the suspected crude oil. The results of the analysis are expected to guide further actions on the incident.