Senate Mulls Sanctions Against Fire Outbreak, Oil Spill
The Senate has directed its Committees on Environment, Petroleum Resources (Upstream), and other relevant bodies to assess the operators’ compliance with the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Act and other laws.
The were committees charged with recommending appropriate sanctions where necessary.
The upper legislative chamber gave the directive on Thursday following the recent fire outbreak and oil spill from Manifold Well 8/BUG 008 in Rivers State
The Senate also called on the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL OML 18) to take immediate action in line with its corporate social responsibility and environmental safety commitments.
It urged the company to deploy emergency response teams to assess the impact of the disaster and implement remediation measures for affected communities.
The lawmakers also mandated the National Oil Spillage Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) to investigate the cause of the fire and oil spill, with a mandate to submit a report within four weeks.
The resolutions followed a motion by Sen. Banigo Ipalibo Harry (Rivers West) on the urgent need to mitigate the environmental and humanitarian impact of the disaster.
Banigo lamented the extensive environmental damage, displacement of residents, destruction of property, and associated health risks. She noted that oil spills and fire outbreaks in the Niger Delta are recurring issues, often due to poor safety protocols, sabotage, or weak enforcement of environmental laws.
The lawmaker highlighted the severe consequences, on the communities, including contamination of rivers, farmlands, and aquatic life. She noted that the incident damaged sources of livelihood of the affected communities in Buguma Asalga, Ifoko Asalga, and Bukuma (Agum) in Degema.
“The pollutants pose significant health risks, including respiratory and waterborne diseases, and long-term effects such as cancer and organ damage, escalating the region’s public health crisis,” she stated.
The Senate also expressed concern over delays in response from oil companies and regulatory agencies, which it noted, worsen the suffering of affected communities and erode public trust in environmental law enforcement.
The Senate therefore resolved that the Ecological Project Management Committee (EPMC) should deploy intervention funds to the victims of the incident, in addition to assistance by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to address the ecological, health, and social damages caused by the spill.
In his contribution to the debate, Senator Friday Benson Kombowei (Bayelsa Central) decried the continuous suffering of people in oil exploring areas in the Niger Delta region.
He countered faulted the arguments of some of his colleagues that the communities were responsible for the fire and spillage, in their attempts to sabotage oil infrastructure.
According, to him, the companies and the regulatory agencies should be blamed, asking, “you have some pipelines passing through people’s houses, people’s business places, so what do you expect?”
“People should not just come here and talk down on the pains that people are already experiencing. There are a lot of ailments that are going on there now that we were not experiencing before.”
Senator Yahaya Abdullahi (Kebbi North), called for a complete overhaul of oil exploration infrastructure across the country, including pipelines and flow stations.
“Failure to act means sacrificing many lives for the benefit of a few,” he warned.
Similarly, Senator Victor Umeh (Anambra Central) urged NOSDRA to impose heavy fines on operators for their “irresponsible acts of destroying the aquatic environment.”
Senate Mulls Sanctions Against Fire Outbreak, Oil Spill is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
