The Senate has urged the Ministry of Aviation to handover the abandoned Shell Airstrip in Oloibiri, Bayelsa to the Nigerian Air Force for conversion into its base.
his followed adoption of a motion at plenary on Thursday on urgent need for transformation of the abandoned Shell Airstrip at Oloibiri Oil Well one in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State to an Air Force Base.
The motion was sponsored by Sen.SundayAgadaga ( PDP-Bayelsa).
Presenting the motion, Agadaga said Shell Airstrip was constructed in 1958 following the first discovery of crude oil in 1956 at Oloibiri Oil well one.
He said the airstrip, sitting on over 25 hecters of land has long been abandoned.
He said said that the airstrip, while in effective operation, was a very valuable asset in the company’s oil exploration and exploitation activities in airlifting of personnel and equipment.
He said during the years of its functionality, heavy duty equipment, company workers, captains of Industry, top government functionaries and diplomats resorted to the route for easy access to the Niger Delta region.
He expressed regret that since the gradual decline of Shell’s operations in the area and final departure from Oloibiri oil field, the airstrip and the land where it operated has been abandoned and left desolate.
The land itself appears to have been sentenced to perpetual condemnation as no agricultural activity which is the economic mainstay of the local dwellers can be carried out anymore due to the concretized topography of the soil.”
According to him, the abandoned airstrip poses environmental challenges and serious ecological complications to the Host Community as Shell has left the people in deprivation, squalor and lamentation after decades of operation.
He said upgrading the abandoned airstrip to an airforce base would bring renewed hope to the people, restore life to the area and attract the following benefits to the country.
“It will strengthen the security architecture of Nigeria as the creeks of Bayelsa up to Brass Island and the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in the gulf of guinea where the oil export terminal is located will be easily monitored and protected.”
Agadaga said its evental upgrade would reduce the rate of oil theft and pipeline vandalism.
