Ex-militants and community leaders in Kou Kingdom, Burutu Local Government Area in the Niger Delta region have handed a 21-day ultimatum to an oil firm, Britannia-U Nigeria Limited, to address alleged damage to their environment arising from the fire outbreak on its facilities that razed 4,000 barrels of crude recently.
In a statement by the ex-militants and community leaders led by the National Chairman Kou Kingdom, Elder Patrick Irou; Chairman of Agge Okibou Community, Comrade Igbala Godday; Chairman of Yotu community, Engr. Wanfede Binalayefa; Engr. Micheal Braboke, National Youth President Kou Kingdom, Ashaka Joseph JP, as well as Human Rights group, Kou Kingdom and host of others they called for adequate compensation.
They warned that if the firm fail to carry out the cleanup exercise and compensate affected communities, they would take every decisive action known to law to stop continued operations of the company in their areas.
Also, leaders of the affected communities stormed the National Oil Spill and Response Agency (NOSDRA) in Warri, Delta State, to make their grievances known to the zonal Head who appealed to them to exercise patience while the issues were being looked into.
It would be recalled that the fire incident occurred on Thursday, July 18, 2024, at the Floating Production Storage and Offloading Facility (FPSO) of the firm.
The fire outbreak reportedly razed the 4,000 barrels of crude oil per day capacity operated by the firm.
The statement by the aggrieved ex-agitators and community leaders partly reads : “If they do not meet these demands before the end of 21 days, we have no option but to take action that will stop the company’s operations across our areas and show them what we are capable of doing.
“We have had enough of being taken for granted.
“We are demanding a cleanup, compensation and the lifting of the wreckages of their badge from the water where the population is still going on.
“We are angry and we have decided to register our grievances since no form of joint investigation was made to our affected communities”.
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