Director-General of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), Bamidele Ajakaiye, has called for legislation to check the excesses of individuals or groups who prevent access to spill sites in oil communities.
Ajakaiye made the call during his facility visit to the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) in Port Harcourt where he was inundated with complaints about the difficulties encountered by oil companies in accessing polluted sites during oil spillage.
He described as worrisome the difficulties encountered by both regulatory agencies and oil operators in having immediate access to clean up and remediate oil impacted sites.
According to him, the denial of immediate entry to contain oil spill helps in the avoidable spread of the spills to vast area of land, thereby impacting negatively on the environment.
He therefore appealed to the National Assembly to come up with a legislation that would discourage the activities of saboteurs and pipeline vandals, as well as strengthen the operation of NOSDRA.
The Director-General also advised youth against pipeline vandalism, pointing out that the enormity and gravity of the hazard resulting from oil pollution on the ecosystem is devastating and long-lasting.
He announced plans by the agency to establish liaison offices in Lagos, Akwa Ibom and Kaduna states to enable people have access to its services.
Ayakaiye, who was accompanied by some top management staff of NOSDRA and those of NOAC, later visited some remediated and spill sites, as well as the gas and oil plants of NOAC in Rivers and Delta states.