An oil rich community in Akwa Ibom State, has raised alarm over fresh oil spills at a Shell petroleum plant.

The fresh spills occurred at Ibeno, a rich oil producing community in Akwa Ibom State, adding to the disruption of livelihoods in fishing and farming villages in the area, which has long suffered from environmental degradation caused by the oil industry.

The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency confirmed that the spill came from the Trans-Niger Pipeline operated by Shell

The pipeline runs through Eleme, an area of Ogoniland where the London-based energy company has encountered decades of local opposition to its business activities.

Indigenes of Ibeno have lamented how their water has been contaminated by oil spills, making it difficult for them to have safe drinking water.

They indicated that drinkable sachet water is expensive and called for immediate intervention from the government, Daily Post reports.

Apart from oil spills, the region has also suffered from the aftereffects of gas flaring.

Nigeria is currently ranked among the top 10 gas flaring countries in the world, with 7.4billion Standard cubic feet of flared gas in 2018.

According to a report by the National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) in February, 2023, Nigeria was known to have flared a total of 216.5 billion standard cubic feet of gas in about 11 months.