By Ajiri Daniels, Abuja
The Senator representing Bayelsa West senatorial District, H.E. Seriake Dickson, has charged the Senate to investigate the recent explosion at the gas processing plant operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) at Gbarain, Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa state.
Senator Dickson also called on the relevant Senate committees to look into the root cause of gas flaring in the oil producing state and make recommendations to end the menace, stating that the probe is an acknowledgement of the urgent need to understand and mitigate the environmental, social, and economic impacts of the practice.
Dickson’s submissions followed the adoption of a motion by Sen. Benson Konbowei (PDP- Bayelsa), at plenary on Wednesday on the need for urgent action on the massive explosion that rocked the gas processing facility in Yenagoa on May 14.
Konbowei during his presentation expressed concern that the inferno from the explosion resulted in the pumping of huge volumes of poisonous gaseous substances into the atmosphere resulting in massive pollution of the environment.
Supporting the motion, Senator Dickson lamented that despite efforts to reduce gas flaring and pollution in the Niger Delta region, it has continued unabated, with adverse impact on the health of the people within the area.
“This is the fate that our people have lived with all these years since the discovery of oil, and it is not a fate that is peculiar to Bayelsa alone; it is a fate that is jointly suffered by all communities where you have oil producing facilities.
“This is not the first time we are experiencing an explosion like this, we’ve had the Texaco blowout in Southern Ijaw which occurred twice, and this is the third one we are experiencing.
“This facility is a very massive one managed by Shell and the NNPC and it feeds the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) export terminal in Bonny Island in Rivers. It is located in a place where there are several communities around and the citizens have no where to run to. They are living side-by-side these facilities.
“I understand that the inferno has been brought under control but the citizens are still there. They have no where to run to. They live side-by-side with all the facilities flaring gas. Sometimes these communities don’t know the difference between daytime and night, because the flaring is continuous.
“Every time they will come and review deadline to stop gas flaring but it is not done. So the flaring is going on and that’s the same fate that the communities in Gbarain-Ubie area are suffering.
“It may interest you to know that even the major partner (Shell) which is running this facility were not even paying ground rent or any form of tax to the state. I had to, during my tenure, send a bill to the State Assembly to make a case for ground rents and tax to be paid. I was happy when I was informed about three months ago that Shell had conceded and paid the first tax to the state,” Senator Dickson stated.
The former Bayelsa Governor prayed the Senate to direct the relevant committees to conduct an inquiry into the menace.
He said, “I will advise that the joint committees look into the matter and come up with a report and then interface with NNPCL and all the regulatory bodies to see what steps can be taken to determine the adequacies of the measures that have been implemented as well as measures that will forestall future occurrences.”
The Senate in its further resolution called on Federal government to adopt measures for the protection of the environment from degradation and also called on operators of the pipeline to provide medical assistance and relief materials to the people affected by the pollution.
