The Bayelsa State House of Assembly has raised the alarm over the occurrence of Earth tremor in some parts of the state due to oil exploration activities.

Gentle Emelah who stated this during a two-day training workshop on Best Practice Mechanisms for Natural Resources Governance for members of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly said there was already a bill to be introduced to tackle the menace when the House resumed from recess.

Emelah representing Yenagoa constituency 111 lamented that oil companies operate in oil communities without regard for the people.

“Within two years, there have been incident of earth tremors in Zarama community in my constituency. When the one in Kaduna happened we knew what the National Assembly did. We are aware that possible cause of Earth tremor is oil exploration. In Obunghan, 500 cubic feet of gas is gotten in this area. Even with the militancy in the Niger Delta region. This area is peaceful and the oil companies are working uninterrupted but because of the uncertainly, they have installed boosters to extract the gas faster thereby threatening our livelihood. The motion on the issue is already ready to be moved when the House resumed from recess.”

The coordinator of the Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD), Dr Nenibarini Zabbey in his keynote address commended the Amnesty International and the Dutch Embassy for collaborating with the organisation to organise the training for the Bayelsa House of Assembly members.

He regretted the mismanagement of the resources from the region as well as ineffective legal framework designed to check the excesses of oil companies.

“It is not news that our natural resources are fast depleting due to uncontrollable exploitation and poor management. During the past decades and particularly now, oil pollution has blighted the environment of the Niger Delta disrupting livelihood structures that have supported communities. Illegal oil refining, deforestation, dredging, untreated effluent discharges, obnoxious fishing practices such as dynamiting etc compound the situation. Of course, legal and regulatory frameworks in place are ineffective.”

Last month, the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth (ERA/FoEN) had raised the alarm over two incidents of earth tremor in some communities in Bayelsa and Rivers states in recent times.

While one happened on July 10, 2016, the other occurred on 10 August 10, 2016.

In July, residents of Igbogene and Akenfa in Bayelsa State and Akinima, Akie-Oniso (Oruama), One Man Country and Mbiama – neighbouring communities in Rivers, witnessed heavy vibrations that lasted for some minutes.

Residents of Saki in Oke Ogun area of Oyo State had last month also reported such quakes in their communities including, Medinat, Veterinary and Ogbooro areas of the town.

•Sourced from daily Sun. Photo shows effect of earth tremor.

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