From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri has cut short his vacation to visit the Oil Mining License (OML) 29, Santa Barbara oil spill site in Nembe Local Government Area of the state.
The governor’s visit is coming a month after the spill occurred and seven days after the Minister of State for Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva visited the site as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Diri who was accompanied on the visit by a federal representative for Sagbama/ Ekeremor Federal Constituency, Hon Fred Agbedi, the speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Hon Abraham Ngobere and other top government officials expressed sadness after visiting the site.
He disclosed that he has also directed the State Emergency Management Committee (SEMA) to take action while also appealing to the National Emergency Management Committee(NEMA) to come to the aid of the people.
“For me what I saw there is alarming. What I saw there, I have not seen in all my life. Our people are endangered. The livelihood of the Bayelsa people and the immediate community, Nembe is endangered. I had to cut short my leave when I was told that the process was still continuing after some couple of days running into weeks and now a month. I decided today to even shelve the State Executive Council meeting first and to come and see things for myself. I have seen that magnitude of oil spill directly from the well. I empathized with my brothers and sisters in Nembe Local Government Area. I have already directed the action of the State Emergency Management Committee. And I appeal to NEMA to equally do the same. In a situation that is less than this, NEMA has immediately reacted.”
The governor appealed to the people of the immediate environment and the people of Nembe to maintain their peaceful disposition assuring them the government would stand shoulder to shoulder with them to activate their rights.
“The people there are short of dying, the people have no food, and the people have no means of livelihood. We need to give some immediate succour to the people there. I am saddened today. Today is not a good day for me and indeed it is not a good day for the people of Bayelsa State. And as a state, we would go back and meet to make decisions the country and the world would hear from us.
“Meanwhile I like to appeal to our people, the immediate occupants of that environment, Nembe, to continue to abide by the laws of this country and to continue to keep the peace as they have kept over this period. And I believe that justice would be served. I believe that as a government we would stand shoulder to shoulder with our people for oil to be a source of happiness, not a source of grief and death as it immediately now portends.”