The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has urged Aiteo Exploration and Production Company Limited to get a quick solution to oil spillage in Nembe as oil continues to spill out from the wellhead.

Nembe suffers massive oil spillage.

The Minister of State for Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva, visited the site of the spill on Wednesday, November 24,2021, the Minister who was directed by the President Muhammadu Buhari, to visit the site to assess the situation.

Timipre Sylva who visited the site alongside with the representative of Nembe/Brass Federal constituency, Israel Sunny- Goli and CEO, Upstream Regulatory Commission, said the president was feeling the pain of the people of the impacted communities and local government council.

He said: “It is a very sad development but these things happen. They are operational hazards of the business. Mr. President is very concerned personally and that is why he asked us, his team to come and inspect and make sure that the appropriate action is taken to ameliorate the situation.

“It is not just I that feels their pain, Mr. President feels their pain too and that is why he personally instructed me and the CEO of the Upstream Regulatory Authority to come and assess the situation and take appropriate actions to ensure the people are taken care of.”

Since its occurrence on November 1, Aiteo had allegedly not done much in clamping the ruptured spot as crude oil and gas have continued to spew.

The Bayelsa State government has called on the Aiteo Group to expedite action to cushion the oil spill in Nemebe, the Governor represented by his deputy, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, has also expressed concern over the spillage of crude oil and its attendant degradation of the environment and called on Aiteo to take urgent steps at initiating remediation efforts towards ensuring that the spill at its facility was brought under control.