When ERA/FoEN monitors visited the communities on the 30th of December 2011 to verify the reports, community folks led the team to the site and gave the testimonies documented below: TESTIMONIES FROM COMMUNITY We cannot tell exactly when this oil spill happened along the 14-inch Ogboinbiri/Tebidaba pipeline belonging to the Nigerian Agip Oil Company but when I heard of it I went to the site myself to witness it. After confirming that it was true, I called Agip directly, informing the company about the incident. I told Agip that delay on the part of the company would do us much harm, hence the need for them to take positive steps to come and stop the spill. The spill occurred from a valve along the pipeline, an area that was surrounded by a block wall on the ground. After informing the company, they sent one of their officials to come for initial inspection on 27th December 2011. After the confirmation, the Agip official told us they would return for clamping next week. We are still expecting them, though the time they promised coming back is not acceptable because the crude oil is still spewing into the swamps and ponds. This is when some of our people are bailing their ponds. And, we have positioned some community youths at the spill site to guard against any one going there to set the place ablaze or tamper with the spill point because we do not want Agip to make unnecessary excuses. We are interested in the actual cause of spill.

Philip Odibo [Chairman, Community Development Committee]

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