The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, warned in a statement that the incident is affecting the livelihoods of peasant and fishing communities in the Niger Delta.

Activists in the area accompanied the government agency’s text with photographs showing vast areas of land and water covered by a thick layer of oil and dead fish.

Members of conservation groups said that the overflow began on the 11th and can be considered one of the worst in the last 16 years in the Ogoniland area in southern Nigeria.

Pending further details, the media in the area recalled that similar situations occur frequently due to two fundamental causes: vandalism by thieves who drill the pipes to steal oil and the lack of maintenance, which is the responsibility of the operating company.

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