August 23, 2024. 2:32p.m
The company letter comes a day after The Colonist Report Africa reported on the oil spill and protests by community residents.
On Thursday, some Ibeno residents barricaded the main gate of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, an ExxonMobil subsidiary, preventing access to the Iboe terminal gate in Akwa-Ibom state, Southern Nigeria. The residents were protesting the oil spills that engulfed community rivers and farmlands, which were claimed to be caused by the company.
Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited has written to the chairman of the Local Government, requesting intervention in the ongoing protest at their facility. The letter obtained by The Colonist Report Africa reveals that the company denied any oil spills from its facilities and that the source of pollution was unknown.
“In your capacity as Ibeno Local Government Council Chairman and the chief security officer of Ibeno LGA, we request your prompt intervention to bring this obstructive picketing of MP’s QIT facilities to an end.”
The company letter comes a day after The Colonist Report reported on the oil spill and protests by community residents.
On Monday, August 19, community youth began protesting, demanding that the company clean up the oil spills and compensate them for the damage they caused.
The Colonist Report Africa previously reported that an oil spill alleged to have come from ExxonMobil facilities engulfed communities, with residents claiming that it affected 26 communities and is still moving across creeks and rivers.
The youth’s decision to protest was motivated by the company’s inaction on the oil spills, according to a letter the Ibeno Youth President’s Forum wrote to ExxonMobil and that The Colonist Report Africa was able to obtain.
Community youth protesters were seen singing songs and calling on the company to address the recent oil spill.
One protester, Isaac Ebrewong, Chairman of the Ijaw Youth Council, a youth body in the Ijaw communities, told the Colonist Report Africa that their current demand is “cleaning the environment and compensation for their damage since the Ibeno community members have never vandalised the company pipe for more than 50 years since its existence in the community.”
Ebrewong accused the company of using NOSDRA as an excuse to avoid their responsibilities, claiming that the agency did not give them the mandate for cleanup.
When The Colonist Report Africa asked the protester how they found out that the ExxonMobil subsidiary facility was the cause of the oil spill, Ebrewong said “the community got information from reliable sources in the company that Mobil Producing Nigeria had been having oil spills in their facilities for more than two months and the company is doing cleanup quietly forgetting the fact that the air we are breathing is contaminated by the spillage.”
“This current spill, they [ExxonMobil] can not control it and it has come over to the seashore,” Ebrewong claims.
Maureen Anthony Effiong, a protest participant, told The Colonist Report Africa that the oil spills caused the lobster she purchased to taste like kerosene.
Effiong said: “ Women have not been fishing or picking periwinkle since August 16. To date, nothing has been done concerning the oil spills.”
The Colonist Report has yet to confirm the community residents’ claims about whether the oil spills are from the company or if the company has been having oil spills for more than two months. The company has not responded to our earlier phone voice message sent on August 21.
Comrade Emmanuel Thomas told The Colonist Report Africa that the protest is peaceful, and that because the company had written a letter to the local government council chairman, the barricade would be removed tomorrow [August 23] to allow company employees to go about their daily business.
As of the time of publication, the protesters had removed the barricade, preventing ingress and egress into the company terminal.
Editing by Elfredah Kevin Alerechi
This is a developing story. We will continue to update the report as more stories unfold.
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