GIS-BASED MONITORING OF OIL SPILL POLLUTION IN IBENO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF AKWA IBOM STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Environmental pollution has been a worldwide challenge and this is more prevalent in the developing countries. Oil spill pollution is one of the major environmental challenges in Niger Delta, Nigeria which has led to loss of many resources. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate oil spill pollution in Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System technologies were the methods employed in this study. Geospatial and statistic analysis were adopted in analyzing the oil spill data and the findings were presented on maps and tables while simple percentage statistic was used to analyze the data obtained from the respondents. The finding in figure 4.1 revealed that from Sentinel-1 radar satellite data of 19th December, 2016 and 6th July, 2016 there was oil spill of about 3km at the offshore with a spatial extent of about 241km2 in the study area. While on the 6th of July 2017, oil spillage observed from satellite imagery was 20km from the shore of Ibeno and this covered an estimated area of about 392 km2. Oil spillage that occurred on the 8th of March, 2017 was estimated to cover 88 km2 at about 19km from the shoreline and as opined by NORSDRA it was caused by equipment failure at the Idoho PP/OML-68 platform on the 6th of March, 2017. Findings showed that there were drastic changes in the land use land cover change in the study area. From 2003-2018, the most significant changes was recorded in the Mangrove, which shows a decrease from 14,624.37 hectares in 2003 to 12,760.02, showing a decrease by 1864.35 hectares, representing 12% decrease and significant increase in the built up areas. In 2003, a total of 4444.11 hectares of built up area was recorded, while in 2018, it was 6401.97 hectares showing an increase by 1957.86 hectares, representing 30% changes. Total of 37,222bbl volume of oil was spilled between 2005- 2019 (NOSDRA, 2019). Out of this volume, 2014 recorded the highest volume of 30,281 barrels, followed by 2009, with 3,432 barrels, with 2007 having 1464 barrels of oil. The three major causes of oil spill in the study area were equipment failure, with 643 incidences, followed by other causes, with 267 as well as corrosion causes which have 132 incidences. These spills caused loss of lives, destruction of farmlands, fishing industry, tourism facilities and cultural areas. The finding reveals that the causes of spill include breaking down of company equipment, deliberate acts by terrorists, vandals, mistake and carelessness by company as well as poorly maintained or damaged oil or natural gas pipeline spewing its contents onto its surroundings. 82.2% of respondent strongly agree that proper awareness about oil spillage is used to cope with oil spill incidence in this area while 97% of the respondents agreed that the use of protective clothing helps in coping with oil spill incidence in the study area. This study is beneficial to the people of Ibeno, the government, researchers among others