Advocates call on FG to halt Shell’s gas flaring in Bayelsa community

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria [ERA/FoEN] has called on the federal government to compel Shell to stop gas flaring in Gbarantoru community in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

ERA/FoEN call comes in the wake of a visit to the community by a team from the Yenagoa office led by Programme Manager and Head of the Niger Delta Resource Center in Bayelsa, Comrade Alagoa Morris, on the 1st March, 2024.

A statement from the group said the visit came after a distress call by members of the community who feared for their lives and their environment, due to the flares.

“Gbarantoru in Ekpetiama kingdom of Yenagoa LGA is a relatively large community and densely populated. During the visit ERA/FoEN monitors observed the gas flare from Shell facility furiously blasting away. Not only was the horizontally flared gas so huge and menacingly noisy, the threat to buildings in the community was obvious as they continued to vibrate rhythmically. A school within the vicinity was forced to shut as a direct result of the impact of the flares, “the statement reads.