OMLs 83/85: No EIA, no drilling, Ijaw youths tell First E&P
Port Harcourt — The Ijaw youth group known as Ifalbabou Revolutionary Movement, IRM, has again demanded that an indigenous oil firm, First Exploration and Petroleum Development Company, must carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment, EIA, before commencing operations in Oil Mining Leases, OMLs, 83 and 85 within the KEFFES communities in Bayelsa State.
KEFFES is an acronym for eight Chevron host communities in Bayelsa, comprising Koluama I, Koluama II, Ezetu I, Ezetu II, Foropa, Fish Town, Ekeni and Sangana communities located along the Atlantic coastline within Bayelsa State. First E&P in 2015 acquired the two oil blocks, OMLs 83 and 85, from Chevron Nigeria Limited.
IRM had claimed that First E&P entered the communities and began drilling operations
without conducting the mandatory EIA, to determine the health impact of its activities on the host communities.
The group hitherto expressed safety concerns on the rig
Port Harcourt -- The Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, has screened and enlightened women in Rivers State on breast cancer detection as part of its breast cancer awareness programme.
NPA Manager, Onne Port, Mr Alhassan Abubakar, said the
deployed in the area by First E&P and later withdrew an ultimatum on the grounds that stakeholders had intervened to resolve the concerns, but only to come up again with the same concerns as the company was yet to address them.