Abuja — President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has warned that oil companies operating in Nigeria must be made to pay heavy fines for spills caused by them.

Responding to a presentation by the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), in the State House yesterday, the President said in view of widespread negative impact of oil spills on the environment, regulatory authorities must ensure that stiff penalties are imposed on companies that default in cleaning up the spills.

He, therefore, directed NOSDRA to liaise with other government and non-governmental agencies to effectively discharge its roles as a policing body of oil spills.

Making the presentation on behalf of the 13-member Governing Board of NOSDRA, its Director-General, Dr Bamidele Ajakaiye, said the Board, inaugurated in April, 2007 as a parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Environment, Housing and Urban Development, was established in 2006 by an Act of the National Assembly.

He said NOSDRA's vision is to "create, nurture and sustain a zero-tolerance oil spill incident in the Nigerian environment."

Ajakaiye said its functions included "surveillance and ensuring compliance with all existing legislation and detection of oil spills in the petroleum sector," including coordinating responses to such incidents throughout the country.

He listed some of the effects of oil pollution on the environment to include contamination of ground and surface water sources.

Others are disruption of balance in the ecosystem; reduction in the economic potentiality of the affected communities; and high cost of remediation of contaminated sites.