What experts have described as rampaging ocean waves is now threatening to wipe off from the face of the earth, the people of Koluama clan in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
The people have therefore cried out to the government and relevant authorities to urgently do something as they have become more exposed to the direct attacks of the menacing phenomenon following its unrelenting upsurge in recent times.
The clan head, Mr. Edi-Manga recounted to newsmen in Yenagoa today how on June 15,2014, the inhabitants of Koluama I community woke up to see brand new river that has been forced open by rampaging waves of the sea.
According to him, the communities are facing the twin-problem of extinction occasioned by ocean encroachment and environmental pollution resulting from the unresolved Chevron rig explosion of January 16,2012.
Flanked by other community chiefs of the clan, including J.T Leghemo, N.Ogboin-Mienye and Andrew Apaingolo, he said the predicament of the clan began in 1953 when ‘Koluama City’ was washed away into the sea.
He said that multinational oil companies operating in the area, like Chevron and Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), are insensitive to their plight.
He said that efforts to also reach government authorities for assistance had not yielded fruits, stressing that since May 30, 2012, when the clan petitioned the House of Representatives Committee on Gas, no step had been taking to ameliorate their suffering.
He appealed to government at all levels to deploy a team of environmental experts to the aggravated sites and take remedial measures to address the problems.
He also called on the federal government to provide shoreline protection and embankment of Koluama communities, even as he demanded for the provision of relief materials to the affected communities to alleviate their suffering.
He further called on the oil companies to wear a human face and come to the aid of the people and give them a sense of belonging. [myad]
