Regional Editor — By Valentine Amanze , Regional Editor

Environmental Rights Action (ERA)/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (FoEN) has raised alarm that petroleum products from a pipeline rupture that occurred in 1993 in Abesan in Ipaja, Lagos State is still polluting groundwater in the area.

The group in a statement signed by its media officer, Philip Jakpo, pointed out that the facility was not properly clamped by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and might explode unless prompt action was taken by the relevant authorities.

ERA/FoEN also stated that residents of the affected areas in Alimosho council have sealed their wells because of large deposits of petrol that could be ignited by any careless spark.

It would be recalled that in 1993 a pipeline rupture involving pipes that were not properly buried by the NNPC was reported by the residents. It took the NNPC several days to clamp the location of the spill but few days after, several home owners in the estate started observing sediments in the water from their wells and boreholes.

Complaints to NNPC were only responded to by visits to the affected residents where the corporation took samples. But that was the last the residents heard from the corporation, ERA/FoEN lamented. It also stated: "In the last 17 years the content of the pipelines has found its way into underground water and affected over 1,000 houses in the Abesan and nearby Baruwa area.

"This has put the residents in a precarious situation and inflicted hardship on them since they have to source for water from distant locations."

It therrfore urged NNPC to immediately carry out a comprehensive environmental audit of the entire Abesan and Baruwa communities in line with international best practice, mop up of petroleum products in the wells and compensation of the community people.