The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) has classified the latest Shebah Exploration and Production Company Limited (SEPCOL) oil spill under a tier two, which means it is beyond the capacity of a single company to handle. Since the vessel reportedly contained 60,00 barrels of crude when it caught fire, the environmental impact can only be imagined. This latest spill and attendant human and environmental losses should be treated with urgent and appropriate seriousness. It is unacceptable that previous tragedies were handled with laxity. The country cannot afford these spiralling losses. A transparent, independent investigation, with the support of respected international institutions is urgently needed.

The SEPCOL Trinity Spirit Floating, Production, Storage Offloading (FPSO) vessel disaster only adds to the concern of environmentalists that these avoidable spills may not stop because the sector is not strictly regulated by the federal government. On 5th November last year, there was a major blast at Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production Company (AEEPCO), operator of the NNPC /Aiteo Joint Venture of Oil Mining Lease (OML) 29. The wellhead (Christmas Tree) leaked in its Santa Barbara, Southwest field, in Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. For weeks, it spewed crude oil into the water body. Most of that huge quantity of crude oil is floating all over the sea and has been carried far to all the coastal communities. The SEPCOL disaster has only compounded the problem.

Indeed, the notoriously frequent blowout of crude oil facilities in the Niger Delta is a grave threat to the nation’s economy, marine ecosystem and the defenseless villagers on the coastline who depend on the sea and its feeder rivers for their livelihood. Oil companies should be made to bear full responsibility for their actions that harm human life and the environment. That is what obtains in most other countries. The latest blast therefore presents an opportunity for the government to defend the rights of the people and secure for them proper compensation and restoration.

The careless nature of the operations of the petroleum sector is a direct affront to the right to life of Nigerians. Spills cover large swaths of water bodies, including swamps, rivers, estuaries in the Niger Delta. The damage done by the spills is both immediate and long term. Spills pollute the waters and air, kill plants, animals, destroy habitats and generally affect the quality of the creeks and oceans. Besides, pollution in one location in the sea exposes everyone to risk. This is so because a fish could ingest crude oil in Delta State and enters the food chain in Lagos or anywhere else in the nation.

Measures the federal government wants to take to stem future occurrence are not known and have never worked, considering the increasing number of spills recorded in recent months. These companies should be held to account and compelled to do proper cleanup and pay adequate compensation to the affected communities. The federal government also needs to put indigenous oil producing companies under scrutiny because environmentalists believe they have become careless. The enactment of the Local Content Act had given room for the participation of Nigerian operators in the oil and gas industry but there are growing concerns that many hardly adhere to global best practice. The Aiteo and SEPCOL cases are being cited as examples in that regard.

Meanwhile, it is disturbing that NOSDRA lacks the funds or clout to independently check the activities of oil companies. In fact, each time there is a disaster, it is the offending company that transports their regulators to the sites. This creates a serious conflict for those responsible for industry oversight. We therefore call on the federal government to ensure that the regulators are properly funded to ensure their independence and effectiveness.

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