An oil spill, reportedly caused by the activities of vandals, has devastated the Ikata community in Ahoada East Local Government Area of Rivers State.

Executive Director of the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria), Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface, confirmed the incident on Monday.

According to Fyneface, the spill occurred in the early hours of the day along a 14-inch pipeline right of way operated by Renaissance Africa Energy Company Ltd (RAEC).

The company recently acquired the assets of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in a $2.4 billion divestment deal.

Fyneface said members of Advocacy Centre?s One Million Youth Volunteers Network of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters in the Niger Delta, as well as those under the auspices of its Crude Oil Spill Alert System (COSAS) in the area, reported the spill to the centre.

He said the spill point, suspected to be third-party interference was seriously spilling crude oil into the environment and destroying the ecosystem in the surrounding area.

He said that the visit by his group?s volunteers in the area to the spill site showed that the vandals allegedly excavated the ground and vandalised the 14-inch pipe along the Okordia-Rumuekpe pipeline right of way.

He said the compromised section was spewing crude oil into the environment and called on the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) to carry out a joint investigation visit (JIV) to determine the actual cause of the spill and invoke the relevant section of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), 2021, to hold the alleged perpetrators to account.

(The Nation)