NATIONAL NEWS: NOSDRA

The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA)  has  imposed five billion dollar fine (about N800bn) on Shell Petroleum and Development Company  (SPDC) for the 2011 Bonga oil spill incident. 

The Director-General, Mr Peter Idabor, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Abuja. 

Idabor also said that the agency had started studying the Post-Impact Assessment Report on Bonga oil spill.

He said that NOSDRA faulted SPDC for not providing immediate relief to the affected communities, whose livelihoods were affected by the disaster. 

The director-general said that the fine would serve as a deterrent to other firms that would treat activities which deplete the environment with levity.

 He said that the oil spill, which spread over 100 nautical miles from the ocean, deprived fishermen in the affected areas of Bayelsa and Delta of their means of livelihood.

Idabor said that the spill which did not result from sabotage or vandalism would take a long time to get cleared.

 Meanwhile, Mr Barrisua Deezim, an Ogoni in Rivers, has urged NOSDRA to extend its efforts and to respond to other communities in the Niger Delta region affected by oil exploration activities.

 Deezim also called on security authorities to intensify efforts to check the activities of illegal refineries in the area.