Oil Spill: Don calls for stiffer penalties on oil coy

An Associate Professor of Environmental Pollution and Toxicology, University of Calabar, Dr Udeme Udofia has called for more legislation to be put in place to quickly address incessant oil spills by oil companies.

Dr Udofia made call over the weekend during Stakeholders Parley on Accountability and Transparency on Oil Spill Reporting organised by National Oil Spill Detection and Regulatory Agency (NOSDRA) in Eket Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom state.

Udofia who delivered a paper tagged; Oil Spill Reporting – An Overview of the Legislative Framework in the Petroleum Industry, Decried Lack of Transparency and Accountability in oil Spill Reporting by Oil Companies.

He believed that if stiffer penalties are put in place for companies that continue to spill oil, degradation of the environment would reduce, lives and livelihoods of communities would be safeguarded.

“The law demands that all spill incidents must be reported no matter how small but the situation on ground indicates that there is absence of transparency and accountability in oil spill reporting in Nigeria.

“As a consequence, oil spills are not being dealt with in an adequate & timely manner. This is the thrust of this Stakeholders parley with the Theme: “ Accountability and Transparency in Oil Spill Reporting.

“This paper however addresses a more fundamental & broader issue of the legislations put in place to safeguard the environment from the operations in the petroleum industry.

“It is a fact that if the relevant legislations are known and fully complied with, oil spill incidents will be drastically reduced and there may be little or nothing to report.

He urged the federal government to fully equip NOSDRA, its regulatory agency with morden facilities and financial backing to gear them up in the task detecting and reporting oil spills.

However, the senior environmental scientist of NOSDRA, Mr Itorobong Edet assured that the regulatory agency will continue to create, nurture and sustain a zero tolerance for oil spill in the country.

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