Oil pollution can have a devastating effect on the water environment, it spreads over the surface in a thin layer that stops oxygen getting to the plants and animals that live in the water.

Oil pollution harms animals and insects, prevents photosynthesis in plants, disrupts the food chain and takes a long time to recover.

Wildfowl are particularly vulnerable, both through damage to the waterproofing of their plumage and through eating the oil as they preen. Mammals such as water voles may also be affected too.

In the ground and soil oils coat or kill the organisms which are necessary to maintain the environmental balance.

The aforementioned has happened to the people of Bonny as a massive spill from a crude oil pipeline belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has continued to devastate communities in the area.

A spill which occurred on Saturday, November 23, 2024 has thrown the people of Iloma Community and her neighbouring villages in Bonny Local Government Area into a bleak situation, especially, now that the festive period is at the corner.

Some residents in the affected area has been evacuated because of this menace. And it’s disheartening to know that this careless attitude has been fingered at the management of the NNPCL by the people, recounting their bad ordeals in the community.

In most cases, the authorities try to sweep some investigations under the carpet, but who bears the consequences, still the people.

Therefore, the Federal Government should step in and do something to savage this unhealthy problem so that the people of Bonny can as well live and enjoy the festive period.