Members of Awoye Community have called on the federal government to intervene on the Ororo-1 fire that has been burning for three and a half year.
The request is being made in the wake of the devastation that has severely impacted the livelihoods of the locals in the affected area. The primary means of subsistence for these residents is fishing, and the raging fire and accompanying oil spill have harmed the marine ecosystem, making it more difficult for them to survive.
Mr. Temiloran Ajerusugbe informed me that the ongoing fire on the river has pushed away the aquatic life, making it impossible for him to catch enough fish to sustain his family for the past three and a half years.
“Prior to the fire outbreak on the river, I used to harvest enough fish that I can sell as well as feed my family for days. Within two hours, I am out of the river, because Awoye community is blessed with abundant of seafood,” he stated. But Ajerusugbe bemoaned the lack of fish since the fire started.
Mrs. Taiwo Ilaberi, who makes her living by selling fish in Awoye Community, is no longer able to send two of her children to school, due to the fire. She purchases fish from fishermen, smokes them, and then sells them to nearby towns. “I was able to comfortably trained two of my children to school, before the fire incident,” she exclaimed.
She bemoaned the fact that fisherman could no longer capture enough fish to sell, though, as the Ororo fire has forced all seafood deeper into the ocean. “What will I sell if they don’t harvest enough fish? My son is currently enrolled in the University’s 300 level, but he is at home right now since I cannot afford to pay his tuition. We are appealling to the federal and the Ondo state government to put out the flames so that marine life can return to us,” she said.
Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Nnimmo Bassey, told me, at the HOMEF’s Ororo-1 Documentary Screening and Policy Dialogue, in Lagos, that the Nigerian government effectively took ownership of (controlling) the fire since it had revoked the rights of Guarantee Petroleum to the field by the time of the disaster.
