Former Governor of Bayelsa State and a delegate at the National Conference, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, yesterday informed the Confab that natives of oil-producing communities had threatened to shut down oil production activities in the region over signs of earthquake noticed in the region.
Alamieyeseigha, who spoke at the resumed sitting of the conference, told the delegates that leaders of oil communities in the Niger Delta visited him at the weekend and asked him to deliver the information to the confab leadership.
“Leadership of oil-producing communities visited me at the weekend and has asked me to convey this information to the management and the delegates of this conference that in the past 58 years, a minimum of 1.8million to 2million barrels of crude oil has been extracted from their land on daily basis.
“The consequence is that they have started experiencing earth movements and tremors in their environment and the fear that there is going to be earthquake or tsunami very soon in their land.
“In order jurisdictions, when this volume of oil is removed, liquid of same gravity is being injected to equalize or stabilise the geology of the area. In recent times, there was gas flaring off the coast of Bayelsa for over a month, the heat was so much that all the villagers evacuated and for one month the oil companies could not clamp the gas flaring.
“So, they fear that they don’t have the capacity to withstand any earthquake in that environment and that I should inform you that they may take the option, I repeat, will take the option of shutting down production in those areas till concrete agreement or arrangement is made with the oil companies to ensure the injection or stabilisation of the environments,” he said.
Another delegate from Ondo State, Bashorun Sheinde Arogbofa, drew the attention of the delegates to the increasing daily death toll of people in the state as a result of bad roads in the area.
He said the area needs the attention of the conference, citing the terrible state of Iware Oke-Oka Road as example, which he said daily claims several lives.
“Our prayer is this, that this conference will be kind in enough to call the attention of the Federal Government to this carnage,” he said.