Lawyers from Nembe in Bayelsa State, under the auspices of Nembe SE Lawyers Forum, have called on the Federal Government, the Bayelsa State Government, and AITEO to compensate and provide adequate relief materials for the displaced, distraught and traumatised people and communities affected by the recent oil spill.

They made the demand in a public statement on crude oil spill and devastation of the Nembe-SE environment by Aiteo’s Santa Barbara well.

While calling on the government to respond to the adequate demands of the communities, the Nembe-SE lawyers said, “The Federal Government’s regulatory agencies should immediately activate the joint investigation and visits, with the leadership and credible members of the affected communities to ascertain the cause of the spill, the level of the impact and extent of destruction caused to the environment;

“The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and AITEO should take immediate steps to assess, negotiate and pay adequate compensation to every person and communities that have suffered the damages from this and previous spills without any delay.”

Nembe-SE lawyers also urged the Federal Government to apply and enforce the nation’s penal laws against any person or party, including regulators, who by commission or omission, played a role in causing this magnitude of environmental abuse and losses to the nation.

The statement added, “The Federal Government and AITEO should immediately take steps to comprehensively clean-up, remediate and restore the extensively polluted and damaged Nembe-SE environment.

“The forum will continue to monitor the situation and is ready to take full necessary legal steps, in conjunction with the leadership of our communities, to protect the victims of the spill and pursue their fundamental rights to economic and environmental justice, including the prompt payment of adequate compensation and full restoration of the damaged environment.”