1998 Mobil Spill: Impacted Communities Protest Over Alleged Diversion Of $16bn Compensation

Yenagoa—Indigenes of oil producing communities from the six states of the Niger Delta yesterday disrupted vehicular movements along the East-West Road axis of Bayelsa State in protest against alleged diversion of $16 billion compensation paid by Exxon Mobil for the 1998 oil spill incident in the region.

The aggrieved communities, which cut across Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Edo, Cross River and Ondo states, said though the agitations for the payment of the compensation to impacted communities of the region took over 15 years in dialogues and meetings, the compensation paid was allegedly diverted by representatives of their principal attorney.

The angry indigenes of the impacted communities, armed with placards with inscriptions such as “Exxon Mobil: All we need is our money since 1998”,

“Exxon Mobil: Refuse our money and face war” among others, left hundreds of travellers heading to Port Harcourt, Rivers and other eastern parts of the country stranded for hours.(Vanguard)