Bayelsa State’s Deputy Governor, Gboribiogha Jonah, has called on Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, to carry out an integrity test on its pipelines in the Niger Delta region.
He said this had become imperative as a result of the frequency and gravity of oil spills from the company’s operations.
Jonah criticized the frequency of the oil spillages, pointing out that a good number of SPDC’s pipes were laid a long time ago and may have suffered from corrosion.
The deputy governor made this observation during an on-the-spot assessment of the extent of damage at one of the spillage sites, weekend, in Ekeremor Local Government Area of the state, berated SPDC for the delay in providing relief materials to mitigate the sufferings of the people in the affected communities, after the spillage.
He also advised SPDC to ensure that all the relevant parties were involved in the joint investigation exercise to ascertain the cause of the spillage.
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