Environmentalist links dead fishes to toxic chemicals from Shell, urges NOSDRA to sit up; Shell declines comment

Mr Furoebi Akene, an Environmentalist on Sunday attributed the dead fishes littering the Niger Delta coastline to discharge of toxic chemicals from Shell’s operations at Forcados oil export terminal.

Akene, spoke in Yenagoa in reaction to NOSDRA’s position that it found no oil spills linking the massive death of fishes floating near the Atlantic coastline in Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa Ibom states.

He said that while he agrees that the dead fishes were not caused by oil leakage as found out by NOSDRA, the disclosure was capable of misleading conclusions as the investigation results were being awaited by stakeholders.

Akene, Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Centre for Environmental Preservation and Development (CEPAD) alleged that Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, discharged toxic materials into the Atlantic off the Delta coastline at Ogulagha.

“It has also become a common knowledge that, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited SPDC discharged sludge mixed with chemicals into the waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

“The discharge is through one of their waste disposal pipes from the Forcados Terminal around Ogulagha and it was not oil spill from any of the trunk line pipes conveying crude oil from the Forcados terminal.

“The conspiracy between SPDC and NOSDRA has become very strong since the DG of NOSDRA is making all efforts to down play the act and divert attention.

“It is heart breaking and surprising that the Federal Government Regulation Agency, the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) is just waking up with a press release.

“The NOSDRA Director-General himself Mr. Idris Olubola Musa acted belatedly almost three months since the incident happened around the end of January 2020, having earlier given the excuse that the COVID-!9 was hindering him.

“Not only the belated nature of the response but the premature position taken while the results are still being awaited is intended to shield or conceal the real cause of the matter, the facility that caused it and the owners of the facility.

“This is quite unfortunate of a regulation agency. We are using this medium in appealing to NOSDRA to for once do the right thing as they are statutorily mandated to do.

“In the same vein we are urging the Governments of the affected states of Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Ondo and their respective National Assembly members and State Assembly members to rise up to their responsibilities to pursue this matter to its logical conclusion for the lives of their citizens,” Akene said.

In a reaction, Mr Idris Musa, Director-General of NOSDRA dismissed the claims and restated the commitment of the spill agency to its mandate and a more stringent regulation of the maritime domain within Nigerian territorial waters.

Musa said that NOSDRA was coordinating a multi-agency investigation aimed at unraveling the cause of the reported massive death of fishes within the nation’s territorial waters and was looking beyond the issue of oil spill.

He explained that other regulatory agencies with mandates of safety in the maritime space were deploying their expertise in the ongoing investigation assuring that the process was being carried out with best practices.

“The event of the death of fishes in large numbers makes it expedient to look beyond oil spillage as the likely cause of death of fishes in such large numbers as we found no trace of leakage to link with the dead fishes.

“The Agency proceeded to collect samples of water, sediments and some of the dead fish for laboratory testing. In doing so the agency brought onboard other relevant agencies of government that have mandate on our territorial waters.

“Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigerian Institute of Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR), Federal Institute of Fisheries Research.

“Also included is the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) for an all hands on deck assessment of the possible cause or causes of death of the fishes in such large numbers,” Musa said.

The NOSDRA Chief Executive said that the results of ongoing laboratory analysis would be compared with results from the participating agencies to proffer an effective solution and ensure more stringent regulations in future.

He said it was situations like this that informed the agency’s limitations to the use of chemical dispersants in the water bodies near human settlements and assured that NOSDRA remained committed to a sustainable environment.

Public Affairs officials of Shell declined comments when contacted for a reaction on the allegations of discharging toxic chemicals from its operations.

An email request for comments to the oil firm on April 7 has yet to be responded to.