…Says, it has nothing to do with politics
An environmental activist, Mr Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface has said that the recent explosion on the Trans-Niger Delta Pipeline in Bodo, Rivers State which was linked to political unrest that eventually culminated in the declaration of State of Emergency in Rivers State as a result of aging infrastructure.
This was as he said that oil spills and pipeline explosions in the Niger Delta are a regular occurrence, stressing that it is rare to witness weeks without such incidents.
He therefore warned that without urgent maintenance, Nigeria should expect more pipeline failures, explosions, and oil spills.
Fyneface, who is the Executive Director of the Youth and Environmental Advocacy Center, noted that the pipelinebeing operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and Shell, failed due to decades of wear and tear.
He said the explosion which occurred a day before the declaration of the State of Emergency in Rivers State had nothing to do with any political motive whatsoever.
In the words of Fyneface; “These pipelines have been laid for over 60 years. They are bursting and deflating like balloons when heavy pressure is applied to transport crude oil to the Bonny export terminal.”
He said that the explosion has no link with ethnic tensions in Rivers State, stressing that Ogoniland where the explosion occurred, is separate from the Ikwerre and Ijaw ethnic groups involved in the dispute.
Fyneface also said the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) should officially determine whether the explosion resulted from equipment failure or sabotage.
According to him; “A lot of these pipelines are already bad, already weak and divestment is going on, where multinational oil companies are handing over the facilities to indigenous companies who lack the technological capacity and finances to run them”.
