The member of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly representing Ibiono Ibom state constituency, Mr. Moses Essien, has raised the alarm over the economic hazards posed by corked oil wells to some communities in Ibiono Ibom Local Government Area of the state.
He said that the oil wells were discovered many years ago by the Shell Petroleum Development Company, which corked and kept them because they were not found to be in commercial quantities then.
He averred that the corked oil wells have overflown and have constituted economic hazards to the communities.
Essien, who is also the chairman of the House Committee on Health, raised the alarm while fielding questions from members of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Akwa Ibom State Council, during a media interaction in Uyo on Tuesday.
He said he has liaised with the appropriate authorities, adding that what is left is for the
committee to visit the communities and make appropriate recommendations to the department involved in the state to see what could be done to help the communities.
He said, “We have some corked oil wells in Ibiono Ibom Local Government, these wells were discovered by Shell many years ago, but found not to be in commercial quantities for exploration and the oil wells were corked and left.
“Some of these oil wells have overflown and are now causing economic hazards to our people in Ibiono Ibom Local Government Area. At the level where it is now, the ministry in charge of these resources is drawn to Ibiono Ibom to carry out an on-the-spot-assessment of the situation. I am sure that the oil is now in large commercial quantities for exploration.”
He informed that the state House of Assembly will soon commence a tour of the state hospitals and other health institutions to investigate widespread complaints of the negligence of duty among health workers as well as failed amenities in the state hospitals.
He added, “The environment of most of the General Hospitals, from my experience at Emmanuel General Hospital, is very unkempt, grasses overgrown everywhere, prompting mosquito attacks. Patients come with mild ailments and contact more critical health challenges, because of the very dirty environment.
“You also have the misfortune of no power supply. Most times patients light candles and phone touches to light their beds and take care of themselves in the night. There have been cases of poor power supply disrupting medical procedures and threatening patients’ lives in public hospitals.
“We are not even giving prior notice to them that we are coming so that we get first-hand information on what is happening against the public complaints. Like the issue you raised, a medical doctor is supposed to be on duty post to care for patients. He is not supposed to be in his house, keeping patients waiting.’’
“Sometimes they wait till emergencies before they will come. That is not encouraging. And so we will embark on oversights to most of these hospitals on these issues so that we can draw the attention of the Governor (Umo Eno) to most of these challenges people are complaining about.
“We are already dealing with some that came to the House by way of motion. Like the Okorette General Hospital, where we dealt with issues raised by the member representing Ikot Abasi/Eastern Obolo state constituency.
“We summoned the Commissioner for Health, the Permanent Secretary of the Health Ministry. We summoned the Hospital Management Board to appear before the House Committee on Health. We gave them three days matching orders to go to the hospital and report back.
“Truly, those issues raised in the motion were real. They had a fact finding and now those challenges have been fixed, just because of the visit of the commissioner.
“We are alive to the duty of drawing the attention of the executive to those areas for reforms and resolutions.”