Lagos — Indigenes of Ibeno community in Akwa Ibom have appealed Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN) to clean up the Atlantic Ocean shoreline at Ibeno that was recently polluted by an oil spillage.

Chief Okon Akpan-Owong, Adviser to Mkpanak Village Elders' Council, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibene on Wednesday that deposits from the spill still littered the shoreline of the entire Ibeno community.

NAN reports that Mobil had reported that undisclosed volume of crude had leaked from its Qua Iboe crude export terminal, off Akwa Ibom coastline on Dec. 4, 2009 into the Atlantic Ocean.

Akpan-Owong alleged that the clean up exercise begun by Mobil sometime in December 2009 had not yielded the desired result.

Besides, he claimed that the workers contracted to do the cleaning did a shoddy job. According to him, the indigenes of Ibeno community will have been in a better position to do the job because they are familiar with the environment.

Akpan-Owong said that the short period given to workers to clean up the area was not enough due to the magnitude of the oil spill.

"All the materials from the spill can be seen along the coastline and some of them are floating items that could be transferred from one area to the other.

"So, you can see that the workers did the job haphazardly. The workers did not pay adequate attention to the job because they feel it does not impact negatively on the life of the people.

"So, we the people of Ibeno are out to ensure that a good job is done and we are ready to follow up this matter to a logical conclusion" Akpan-Owong said.

Obong Ukot Esenem Ukot, Village Head of Atia Community in Ibeno, told NAN that the firm was supposed to hire youths from the community for the exercise.

"That was the assurances we got from Mobil but not a single person from the community was involved in the exercise.

"The oil deposits on the shoreline had been buried by sand deposited by the tidal waves, so it takes someone that is familiar with the terrain to know the exact spots.

"But the company brought people from other places who merely beat about the bush and achieve nothing," Ukot said.

Mobil, in a statement made available to NAN in Eket in Akwa Ibom, said that it was committed to the completion of clean up exercise.

The company re-stated its commitment to maintain high safety, health and environmental standards in its area of operations.