Following incessant pipeline explosions at its oil facilities, a civil society group, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of Earth Nigeria, ERA/FoEN, has called for a comprehensive audit of safety procedures at Nigeria Agip Oil Company, NAOC, oil wells.

ERA/FoEN, made the call in its field report on the pipeline explosion made available to journalists on Monday in Yenagoa.

According to the report signed by Mr Alagoa Morris, ERA’s head of Field Resources, the frequent fatal accidents resulting in 17 deaths within the past nine months calls for stern sanctions including revocation of operational license of NAOC the oil firm is found to have been negligent.

“The authorities should set up an investigative panel of enquiry to follow up this incident to its logical conclusion and; there should be a public hearing of the report of such a panel,” the group stated in the report.

ERA also recommended that community representatives and the civil society groups should be involved in the audit process to bring out the truth.

“The oil industry is too important to the nation and, it would be gross disservice and negligence on the part of three tiers of government not to accord proper investigation of such incidents the importance they deserve,” the group said.

It further recommended that autopsies should be carried out on the victims of the explosion to determine the actual cause of death, mentioning that deaths resulting from accidents that occur from repairs at Agip’s oil fields have reached alarming levels.

It also urged the regulatory agencies to ensure that Agip is compelled to clean up and remediate the impacted environment.

At least three explosions have occurred at oilfields operated by Agip in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa between July 2015 and March which left some 17 persons dead.

An explosion which occurred at Azuzuama area on July 9, 2015 left 14 dead and another one on March 26, 2016 left three dead. The third one of February 2016 left no casualties.

It will be recalled that Director-General, National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) Peter Idabor, confirmed the death of three oil workers in the latest explosion.

Idabor attributed the accident to poor safety procedures at the oil field operated by Agip in Bayelsa State.

Meanwhile, officials of Agip’s declined commenting on the development.