Ocean Encroachment: Save Us, Bayelsa Community Cries Out

The people of Sangana Kingdom, in Brass local government area of Bayelsa State, have called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the managing director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr Samuel Ogbuku, for an immediate intervention as the oil-rich coastal community is currently grappling with constant ocean encroachment, which is causing significant damage to their lands and properties.

Sangana Kingdom is one of the host communities to several multinational oil companies such as; Consolidated Oil and Gas (Conoil), Chevron, Shell (H-Block), Agbami, First E & P, Statoil, and NIGDEL.

While expressing fears over the complete extinction of the community, the Amadabo of Mokoama Sangana kingdom, Chief Theophilus Moses, said that half of the kingdom including the economic trees, sacred lands, houses, roads and electrifications have been washed away by the ocean, adding that with what the people are currently experiencing, there will be no Sangana community in the next 10 years.

He said, “We are crying for help because you can see how the erosion has depleted our land, half of the community has gone. Over the years, this community has been a very prosperous community with a lot of people that stayed here.

“But today, the history has no longer been the same. The economic situation has been disrupted by the incessant operations of oil industries within the domain and that has also resulted in the erosion that has created a lot of depletion of our land.

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“Some year ago, there was an intervention that came here and that was done by the federal government and today that work too has already been cut off because the erosion and the wave turbulence is so massive.
Today you can see that the community is gone half way and we are crying for help.

“This is a community that has contributed a lot to the national economy. We have a lot of oil companies that are operating here but today those companies that are operating here have abandoned us. We are left with no person to help us. We call on every meaningful government agency to come and help us.

“More than a kilometer of the land has been depleted and if this menace continues, we have no place to go. That is why we are crying today; we want the government to come; we want every meaningful agency to come. We call on every possible person, even NGOs to come to our aid because Sangana is mourning, Sangana is bleeding. We are crying for help and we need that help to come fast, otherwise Sangana will be gone.”

According to the Community Development Committee (CDC) Chairman of Sangana Kingdom, Mr Priboye Reuben, the federal government, NDDC and the oil companies have allegedly neglected to carry out their corporate social responsibilities, in spite of the fact that they have been extracting oil in the community for the past three decades.

“This is a period of joy worldwide but Sangana is crying. This is a community that hosts 7 oil companies. Now that we have a representative in NDDC and we are in a democratic government, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, please come to Sangana’s aid by instructing the NDDC to come back to the job that they abandoned. We don‘t want to go extinct.

“By whatever means, the federal government should come and fix this problem for Sangana, we are contributing to the economy of this country. We are calling on the federal government and the MD of NDDC, Samuel Ogbuku, who is from Bayelsa, to come and save the Sangana community,” Reuben said.

Also, an indigene of the Sangana kingdom, Uruo Omiekumo Esq, said that the erosion control problem has dated back beyond their forefathers, adding that no attempt has been made to forestall incessant erosion on the shores.