by Iyobosa Omoregie

The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), has alleged that the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NOAC), Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) and the Federal Ministry of Environment were responsible for the worrisome ocean surge currently threatening Koluama 1 and 2 communities of Bayelsa State.

IYC accused the two oil multinationals and the Federal Ministry of Environment of being insensitive to the imminent humanitarian and environmental disaster at Koluama 1 and 2 communities in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State arising from the threatening ocean surge.

IYC spokesman, Barrister Eric Omare, accused the Federal Ministry of Environment of alleged insensitivity to the plight of the people of the area.

Omare said that the ministry refused to heed to call to avert the impending crisis since June 2014 when they first intimated the ministry of the looming disaster.

The group also blamed Agip and Chevron activities in the area for the threatening ocean surge which it said if not averted could lead to humanitarian crisis in the area.

Specifically, IYC said Koluama 2 is at the risk of being overtaken by the ocean which has taken a substantial part of the land on which the community is situated.

The group said that if urgent steps are not taken, the entire Koluama 2 Community may not exist in the nearest future.

“This is an impending humanitarian and environmental disaster which can be averted if urgent proactive steps are taken.

“The situation in Koluama 2 community is not helped by the abandonment suffered by the community as a result of the decades of oil exploration and exploitation in the community by American oil giant, Chevron Nigeria Limited without commensurate corporate social responsibility to ameliorate the environmental hazards suffered by the community,” the group said.

IYC also said Chevron’s willful refusal to pay compensation for damages arising from the 2012 gas explosion coupled with the abject poverty in the community speak volume of the level of abandonment.

“The IYC is appalled by the insensitivity of the Federal Ministry of Environment to the situation being faced by the Koluama communities despite the fact that the IYC had drawn the Ministry’s attention to the situation in June 2014,” the statement said.

IYC said that the Koluama problem just like the other environmental crisis in the Niger Delta is a personal challenge to President Goodluck Jonathan who the group described as an environmentalist and very familiar with the problem . IYC therefore called on the President to act and save the Koluama communities from extinction.