Niger Delta women suffer effect of pipeline bombimgs
https://infoniger.blogspot.com/2016/10/niger-delta-women-suffer-effect-of.html
Niger Delta militants have been bombing oil and gas pipelines
– The oil spill has affected people in the region especially women
– Hospital shave recorded birth of deformed children The bombing of oil and gas pipeline by militants in the Niger Delta region is resulting in health problems for people in the region especially women.
Vanguard reports that oil spillage of Bodo, Bomu, Kpe, B-Dere and K-Dere and other Ogoni communities in Gokana local government in Rivers state has resulted in women giving birth to abnormal babies.
Although oil spill due to oil exploration has always been in a problem, the degree of the exposure to hazard has multiply due multiple bombing of pipelines by militants.
Dr. Theophilus Odagme who is the commissioner for health conformed that in the past three months, hospitals have recorded strange deformity in babies delivered.
He said: “In one of the hospitals in Bori within the last eight months, they had three abnormal babies. One of the babies, born on August 27, 2016, had tiny head that is not compatible with life; the anomaly is called anencephaly.
“In April 2016, another baby was born with omphalocele. The abdominal wall is not well developed, so you see all the internal organs outside.
We also had another one with a very big head, hydrophilic, in December 2015. So it is possible that we may be having more, so we need to do a study. The children died after birth.
“I have spoken with a number of doctors and midwives in the area, as well as specialists in a teaching hospital. We have now agreed that we need to do a study because there has been increase in the recent past reporting on the cases of children born with different form of anomalies in the area.
“But can we say it is as a result of the oil exploration and exploitation? We cannot say that. We need to establish that.
There have been some observations in some quarters, not just only in Bodo. We would need to do a study that is sponsored, you can call it an audit that may be for about five years back, a retrospective review of congenital anomaly in children born in that area.
” Mrs. Agnes Yaatabu who resides in Bodo said: “I was four months pregnant when my baby flushed out. I was disturbed about the miscarriage; so I went to hospital. When I got there, the doctor conducted a test and told me that the cause was oil spill that has remained in our environment for a long time now.
“It is true that the spill is affecting our women. After that experience, I have not been pregnant again because I am afraid that if I get pregnant again, the baby will flush out because the doctor said the oil has damaged some cells in my body. “I have not received good treatment ever since because I do not have money. I have two children before this thing started; many women in our community do not have monthly ovulation and menstruation again”.
Samuel Monday said he has been battling rashes for a while and life has been difficult. He said: “Leedeh group are the people who came to help Ogoni land. We do not have clean water to drink because of the oil spill. When we put our bucket outside and it rains, the colour of the water is black.
“When we uproot cassava, we cannot use it. When we bathe with the water, our body will start itching. If I open my private part, you will see rashes, it is caused by the polluted water. I just bought drugs; the oil is really causing us different sicknesses.
The water is contaminated and affecting people. My father died as a result of the polluted water. “When he was sick, we took him to a hospital at Eekeh in 2012; the doctor checked his blood and said that the water he was drinking had blocked his heart and lungs with a dark thing.
That was what killed my father.” “I do not go to the river to bathe again and I do not fish there, but some people still do. Even periwinkle is no longer there. To get fish now, we go to other places far from here.”
– The oil spill has affected people in the region especially women
– Hospital shave recorded birth of deformed children The bombing of oil and gas pipeline by militants in the Niger Delta region is resulting in health problems for people in the region especially women.
Vanguard reports that oil spillage of Bodo, Bomu, Kpe, B-Dere and K-Dere and other Ogoni communities in Gokana local government in Rivers state has resulted in women giving birth to abnormal babies.
Although oil spill due to oil exploration has always been in a problem, the degree of the exposure to hazard has multiply due multiple bombing of pipelines by militants.
Dr. Theophilus Odagme who is the commissioner for health conformed that in the past three months, hospitals have recorded strange deformity in babies delivered.
He said: “In one of the hospitals in Bori within the last eight months, they had three abnormal babies. One of the babies, born on August 27, 2016, had tiny head that is not compatible with life; the anomaly is called anencephaly.
“In April 2016, another baby was born with omphalocele. The abdominal wall is not well developed, so you see all the internal organs outside.
We also had another one with a very big head, hydrophilic, in December 2015. So it is possible that we may be having more, so we need to do a study. The children died after birth.
“I have spoken with a number of doctors and midwives in the area, as well as specialists in a teaching hospital. We have now agreed that we need to do a study because there has been increase in the recent past reporting on the cases of children born with different form of anomalies in the area.
“But can we say it is as a result of the oil exploration and exploitation? We cannot say that. We need to establish that.
There have been some observations in some quarters, not just only in Bodo. We would need to do a study that is sponsored, you can call it an audit that may be for about five years back, a retrospective review of congenital anomaly in children born in that area.
” Mrs. Agnes Yaatabu who resides in Bodo said: “I was four months pregnant when my baby flushed out. I was disturbed about the miscarriage; so I went to hospital. When I got there, the doctor conducted a test and told me that the cause was oil spill that has remained in our environment for a long time now.
“It is true that the spill is affecting our women. After that experience, I have not been pregnant again because I am afraid that if I get pregnant again, the baby will flush out because the doctor said the oil has damaged some cells in my body. “I have not received good treatment ever since because I do not have money. I have two children before this thing started; many women in our community do not have monthly ovulation and menstruation again”.
Samuel Monday said he has been battling rashes for a while and life has been difficult. He said: “Leedeh group are the people who came to help Ogoni land. We do not have clean water to drink because of the oil spill. When we put our bucket outside and it rains, the colour of the water is black.
“When we uproot cassava, we cannot use it. When we bathe with the water, our body will start itching. If I open my private part, you will see rashes, it is caused by the polluted water. I just bought drugs; the oil is really causing us different sicknesses.
The water is contaminated and affecting people. My father died as a result of the polluted water. “When he was sick, we took him to a hospital at Eekeh in 2012; the doctor checked his blood and said that the water he was drinking had blocked his heart and lungs with a dark thing.
That was what killed my father.” “I do not go to the river to bathe again and I do not fish there, but some people still do. Even periwinkle is no longer there. To get fish now, we go to other places far from here.”
