RIVERS: KULA YOUTHS RAISE ALARM OVER DEVASTATING SPILLS IN KULA KINGDOM
Youths of Kula Kingdom in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State have raised the alarm over an ongoing spill in some communities in the area, resulting from the facility operated by AITEO EASTERN EXPLORATION And PRODUCTION Limited.
President of Kula Youths Organizations Worldwide, JAPUS EKINE in an interview with Brave Views, noted that the incident is not a sabotage but a mechanical error on the part of the company.
He said: “A particular well head, OML 29, well one just got busted, the head is off.
“It doesn’t look like a sabotage, it looks like a mechanical error. The place is highly polluted with hydrocarbon.
“Spills every where in our water front, the mangroves, everywhere is distorted, destroyed, apparently the environment is polluted.
“Communities have been affected like: Toniboko to Elija-Kree to Somi-Kree to Uwangai down to Memosigbi to Kaladuboko and right now, it’s entering into Kula main town”.
The Kula Youth Leader, JAPUS EKINE decried the negative impact of the hydrocarbon spillage on the people and the ecosystem, saying: “Kula people are majorly fishermen, we live through fishing, our women go for periwinkles and others but this spill now will definitely affect our mangroves, such that our women can not even see periwinkles to pack, the fishes will die, some residence in the area, their nets are soaked with oil, they can not even see fish right now. This is the particular season called Kubo, unfortunately their nets are all soaked with oil, the fishes are not there anymore for them to survive, so livelihood or source of survival is definitely not working right now”.
Our correspondent gathered that, at the time of filing this report, the spill is still ongoing in the flow station at Kula communities, located close to the boundary between Kula in Rivers State and Nember I’m Bayelsa State.
Efforts to speak with the authorities of AITEO proved abortive but we hope to bring publish their own side of the story, when we establish contact with them.
