"Oil spill: Delta community accuses Agip of conniving with soldiers to renege on agreement"

The people of Oleh...Delta State, have alleged that Nigerian Agip Oil Company, NAOC, connived with soldiers to renege on agreements it reached with the community to discontinue its operations in the community impacted by the recent oil spillage pending the resolution of ‘the grey issues.” The company’s pipeline...ruptured in the community on September 7, with the resultant oil spillage causing a fire outbreak in the area'...President-General Oleh Community Development, Chief James Obeuwou, said that representatives of the company, the state Ministry of Environment, the local government and the community, had, after an assessment of the rupture, agreed that the affected area be cordoned off until a final agreement at a consultative forum. “Sadly, Agip connived with the soldiers to continue with its operations in the area,” he said, noting that the spill which destroyed farmlands arising from the fire outbreak, was “caused by over pumping of crude oil as a result of error in their machines.”...