Part 2
Since the earth-blast in 2023, petitions and other concerns from residents of the affected communities have been stonewalled by an alleged organised treachery via compromise, bribery, divide-and-rule where few regroup for peanut benefit at the detriment of the general good of the people, the common-man.
Many have recounted their woes as their lives, properties, and even the environment can not remain the same after the earth-blast operation by Geo-siesmic Survey Limited, a firm contracted by Sterling Oil Limited to perform pre-exploration seismic surveys for them.
According to the Community Liaison Officer and Community Interface Coordinator, CLO/CIC of 3-D Seismic Survey/Data Acquisition of OML-13 Block, Akwa Ibom State, Engr. Ime John Inyang,
“A group of individuals came in first to the community with a bottle of hot-drink, one bottle of wine, one crate of malt, one crate of mineral, and Ten Thousand Naira (N10,000). I don’t know if that is what they called consultation because I queried them.
“My next interaction with them was when I saw strange faces coming into the communities cutting down trees. On query, they said they were setting their tracks. The first set was identified as surveyors. The second set was the recorders who planted the gadgets to record the information during the blast while the third set of people were the drillers who drilled 35m deep of borehole, drained water from it and bury their explosive device there.
“No matter the distance of your house, so far as it is on their track, they will bury their device. It was a distance of 10m from each explosive device. It was like this in all the affected communities. They followed these tracks, and it crisscrossed the communities. This blast continued daily for two-weeks in these communities. You understand what this means for the aged with High-blood pressure. They came back after three-weeks to remove their recorders.
“There was no other formal information again after what they called consultation. People will just wake up and hear them blasting the earth and everywhere shaking. You can see the effect of the blast. The people asked for compensation. They deceived us and said after the operation. For two years now, we have not seen their shadows as they have finished that earth-blast operation and left the communities devastated after the ravage. Good for the kind of vegetation we have here. Many of the trees have grown back, and they take advantage of that to try to cover up this inhumane act.
“Up till now, no compensation or evaluation has been done to the crops they destroyed or the cracked buildings. So, their promise of coming back is likely not to be realistic after two-years because those crops/plants destroyed have grown back, and there has been no evaluation report of the things they destroyed.
“Some of the employed workers were disengaged because there was nothing like employment letter to formally engaged them and seal the terms of engagement. There was no statutory allowance for the artisan workers,” – CLO/CIC of 3-D Seismic Survey/Data Acquisition of OML-13 Block, Akwa Ibom State, Engr. Ime John Inyang recounted experience.
It is also on record that during the panel review meeting, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Exploration and Production Limited (NEPL) as one of the regulators frowned at the action of Geo-siesmic operations in these communities without proper Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Then, NEPL queried why the Federal Ministry of Environment did not supervise their operations to ensure that proper procedure was followed. This, the Federal Ministry allegedly claimed that they were not properly informed about the operation. Rather, Geo-siesmic Survey Limited only informed the body about their arrival in the State.
Artisan’s side of the story
An artisan hired during the earth-blast operation recounted his experience.
“As a Turner in the drilling sector of Geo-siesmic, the hazards, danger, and risk was too much compared to the minimal stipend at the end of the month. Sometimes, we experience the death of a colleague due to work hazards. One day, we were informed of the demise of one of us in another camp who was a head man, and only a day was given to mourn the departed colleague.
“He died while working. He was drowned in water. No matter the terrain their tracks follow, even in a body of water, the workers need to go through it. No proper Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). We normally go a long distance with heavy equipment on our shoulders. Some heavy metallic rods and generating set. One of us was almost drowned in a swamp during one of our operations. He was carrying a generating set, and I was called to go assist him. He was sinking faster with the weight of the generating set up to his neck region. Even I, who went to help him, almost sank if not for the swiftness of other workers who came to our rescue forming a chain that gradually pulled all of us out of the swampy area, including the generating-set which is very important to the company than human lives.
“As a Turner, in 2023, a hole drilled was at the cost of six hundred and twenty naira (N620) only. We protested for a review. They promised to upgrade the amount to one thousand five hundred naira (N1500). We also demanded a written document to seal this commitment with the company, but they evaded it. Even our employment letters were not given. They kept giving us empty promises. None of these were done until I left the company. Only thirty-five naira (N35) was added to the earlier cost of six hundred and twenty naira (N620) for hole drilling, making it six hundred and fifty-five (N655) naira then. Dissent voices fighting for our collective welfare improvement were always intimidated with security presence or sacked by stopping their stipend. At a time, two of our men were arrested, tortured, and detained.
“Drilling is such a tedious task. At the end of some months, we would have been able to gather seventy thousand naira (N70,000) or eighty thousand naira (80,000). But subtraction for food vendors and supervisors left us with very meagre amount we can’t boast of before our families,” Mr. Joseph Effiong James, an artisan worker lamented.
Nsit Atai Residents Send SOS
“We successfully had stakeholders’ engagement which had all the village heads, chairman, village councils, youth leaders, and women. We did the recruitment of adhoc staff as was required by the company. They engaged the people. The actual work, which was line-cutting, started. Though we did not capture all the villages in Nsit Atai but up to 22/27 villages were fully impacted. Everything was followed, but what is not clear is damage assessment and compensation, which is one of the major items in their guide lines. I joined in the follow-up meeting with the community, and they assured them that the assessment people will come,” Owodimo George, CLO Nsit Atai narrated experience.
Panel Review meeting, 2023
Another eye-witness of the operation, a founder of a church, tells his story alleging that the distance of the earth-blast was not up to a kilometre from where his home and church are sited.
“I was at home on 28th September 2023 around 3:20pm, when I heard a crack from the church vestry and everywhere was shaken to a point sand debris fell on all of us who were in the house and church.
“We all ran out to find out what happened. We discovered there was a big crack in the church building by the vestry wall. I reached out to the contact person at Idikpa called Mr. Amos Monday. He later referred me to Owodimo George as a CLO in Nsit Atai LGA.
“When I met Owodimo George, he advised that a letter be written to the Company and submit in their office at Ikot Oyoro in Ikot Akpaden, Mkpat Enin LGA. I took the letter to the office and handed it over to one Chika, a lady I met in the office. He acknowledged the letter and gave me one of the copies. She assured that the Company would come for the assessment to enable payment of compensation. Up till now, nothing has been done.
“I went back last year, around October/November 2024, and met her again. She told me that the team from the Company will not come again for the assessment of the houses but will come for crop assessment.
“I shockingly asked when action will be expedited to assuage the effect of the operation on the communities’ members. If at all there were such teams for assessment of the damages done on our crops and houses, by now, they would have come. But up till now, June 2025, there is no assessment of any kind not to talk of actual compensation.
“From the look of things, Geo-siesmic has abandon the communities. Because coming now for assessment, how will they determine the extent of damages to equate for proper compensation as the crops have grown back due to our vegetation.
“I would have sued them since last year, but I was asked by the CLO Owodimo to stay action to see if the Company will do something. But as it is, there is no sign that they will pay for the damages their operation left in our communities,” Apostle Anietie Sunday Matthew, a native of Idikpa Nsit, Nsit Atai LGA.
In a separate interview, another CLO who pleaded anonymity said the blast was 50 metres away from houses. That it happened in Oruk Anam, Ikot Abasi and about to occur in Mkpatenin (as at interview time). He said (as at interview time) that the team are still in Nsit Ubium, Eket, Ibeno and will terminate operation in Mbo and part of Oron LGAs of Akwa Ibom State. He went on to explain that about four Oil Wells have been discovered in his community. However, in his position, the blasting can not affect any building.
…to be continued.
