Gas Leakage: Community To Loose Their Homes, Source Of Livelihood 

  

By

Awajis Josiah-Chijindu

 Residents of Tombia community in Degema Local Government Area of Rivers State have called on relevant authorities, especially NLNG and Agip to fix the gas leakages of their gas pipelines in the community.

Some opinion leaders and indigenes of  the community while briefing Newsmen in Port Harcourt said, that the gas leakage which occurred on Saturday 20th January, 2024 had within the few days caused great harm to residents of Tombia community and the environment. 

Secretary Tombia council of chiefs,   Chief Onimite Abbey said the gas leakage has negatively impacted their environment most especially, the locals source of livelihood. 

“Last Saturday ( 20th January, 2024) about 7:30pm I was called by the DSS boss Degema local government area of Rivers State that there was a gas explosion in my community. I told him I wasn’t aware. With the information I have to quickly respond to the information and I went home.

When I got home, I was taken to the area, it was a gas leakage! right in the river. This means it has spoilt most of our aquatic lives. And as a result we cannot go fishing any longer".

Chief Abbey pleaded with the companies that own the leaking gas pipeline facility to swing into action and fix the problem.

On his part, CDC chairman of the community, Mr .Vincent Abbey called for immediate intervention by NLNG as well as relevant agencies in order to halt further damages. 

“NLNG knows the impact of gas leakage into the open space, particularly at the place where it occurred.

NLNG does not need further education of the impact of gas leakage into the environment, they all know. The last time I spoke with them they said they are going to check in their control room to ascertain the root cause of the leakage. But since then we have not heard from them".

The CDC chairman lamented on the fear of the community noting that  a little spark can cause a huge fire that can exterminate the entire community as well as the environment, reason why they are speaking out now.

Meanwhile the Youth President of Tombia Kingdom, Comrade Owen Igbikialabo  has called on the State government to intervene in order to save lives and properties in Tombia noting that he has personally reported to NLNG about the gas leakage incident immediately it was spotted and up till now, the companies are yet to respond.

“I personally called NLNG control room to report the situation, they’re yet to take care of the gas leakage incident.

We are calling on Rivers State government, the governor Siminalayi Fubara to intervene, this is a very serious issue, it can cause fire outbreak on the entire creek and burn off the habitats''.

Our correspondent reports that all efforts to reach the multinational failed as several calls put across to them were not answered or returned as of the time of filling this report.