Massive Explosion Chase Obagi Residents in Rivers.
By Stella Peters
On the 17th of January 2024, residents of Obagi community were chased out of their homes and community following a massive and aggressive fire that gutted their farmlands and bushes, from a leaking AGIP gas pipeline. While some of the fleeing community persons have returned to their homes, those whose homes are closer to the point of the incident are
afraid to do so.
The residents of Obagi, a rural community in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State, happen to be the hosts of oil companies like the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG), TotalEnergies, and AGIP.
In a statement signed by HOMEF following a field visit to the site, “A gas leak had earlier been reported from a pipeline close to the homes of some of the members of the Obagi community in June 2023. The fire had already been extinguished by the time HOMEF team reached the affected area on Friday, January 19, in the company of reporters and
community members. The people noted that AGIP was unwilling to meet with them, and a meeting set up for the day of our visit did not hold without any information regarding their inability to be present in the community.
A community youth, Morgan Destiny, said “A foul gas odor in the air detected that there was a serious gas leakage from a gas pipeline on their farmland. Suspecting the leaking pipeline belonged to Nigeria AGIP oil company, the community leaders promptly contacted the company. However, the company itself denied owning the facility”.
The community leaders contacted NLNG over the matter and they also denied ownership of the leaking pipeline. The aggrieved community reported the problem to the National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), and after swift investigations, it was discovered that the facility did, indeed, belong to AGIP. AGIP, however, ignored
NOSDRA’s and the community’s call for repairs, and refused to stop the leakage.
This willful negligent decision not to address the gas leakage eventually led to the disastrous wildfire seven months later, forcing the people of the community to abandon their homes and seek refuge in other communities until respite came.
“There was fire everywhere. The ground and houses started shaking and people started running out of their homes. I was at home the day it happened,” Eze Clinton, a royal father of the Obagi community, told us. The fire ravaged large expanses of cultivated farmlands, destroying the economic livelihoods of the people of the community who are mostly
farmers and fishers.
The Obagi people bemoan the fact that although they have hosted AGIP on their land for several decades, they have derived no benefits from the relationship. According to them, AGIP has made no contributions to the development of the community, and the only legacy of this company to the Obagi people are their gas flares, destruction of their natural
resources, and the recent fire that has ravaged their community.
The community calls on the federal government to call AGIP to order, mandating them to repair, replace and maintain their equipment and facilities in the Obagi community. They are also demanding that AGIP pays compensation for the damage their community has suffered due to their willful negligence due to the fire and gas leakage incident, and reparations for the years of environmental degradation that they have wreaked upon their land.
