Six months after a gas leak affected several locations of the Oil Mining Lease in the Bille community, Degema Local Government Area of Rivers State, residents say they are still grappling with its impact on their health, water sources, and ecosystem.
The community called for urgent intervention by the Federal Government and relevant agencies to provide relief and address the environmental damage in the coastal kingdom.
They made the appeal during a news briefing in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, where a documentary titled “From Extraction To Eruption: Oil, Gas And The Unfolding Environmental And Health Crisis In Bille Kingdom”, produced by a civil society organisation, Social Action, was presented.
Speaking, Chairman of Bille Kingdom Council of Traditional Rulers, Chief Bennett Okpokiye-Dokubo, said the situation required urgent and coordinated intervention from the Federal Government and oil companies operating in the area.
Okpokiye-Dokubo also called for “emergency provision of potable water, independent and transparent environmental and gas risk assessments, deployment of mobile health services for screening and treatment, containment of hazardous zones, preparedness for evacuation if conditions worsen,” amongst others.
While commending the Rivers State Government for its donation to the community, he said the scale of the crisis went beyond financial palliatives.
“We acknowledge the donation of N100 million to the community by the Rivers State government for palliative measures. While this may be commendable, we want to put it on record that the magnitude of the crisis being faced by the people of Bille, both old and young, is much more than what money can cover.
“Even as a palliative measure, governments at all levels owe it a duty to us to put in place measures to ensure the crisis does not escalate beyond what we are already experiencing today,” Okpokiye-Dokubo said.
Secretary of the Bille Kingdom Council of Chiefs, Luckyman Egila, also urged international bodies, regulators, and development partners to ensure accountability from oil operators.
Egila stated, “Communities like Bille, which have borne the burden of extraction for decades, cannot now be left to bear the cost of its consequences alone.”
Reacting to the documentary report, Programme Manager of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Kentiebe Ebiaridor, expressed concern that six months after the incident, no company had accepted responsibility for the affected pipelines.
Ebiaridor said, “We also had this type of experience around ONELGA (Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government) some years ago, where the gas was pumping in the ground. That was done by a different company. Today we are talking about the eruption in the Bille community at different places.
“But there’s one thing we never saw: who is the culprit? We don’t know the culprits; the culprit has not been mentioned. So I think there’s a conspiracy somewhere,” he said.
He also questioned why findings from the Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) had not been made public, despite its importance in identifying responsible parties.
Presenting the report, Resource Justice, Democracy and Governance Manager of Social Action, Prince Edegbuo, said the findings highlight the severity of environmental and health risks facing residents.
“What is happening in Bille Kingdom is not just an isolated environmental anomaly; it is a growing disaster. Gas bubbling in water sources, including wells that sustain daily life, signals a dangerous convergence of environmental contamination, public health exposure, and livelihood collapse.
“With a significant portion of community water sources affected, the residents are exposed through drinking water, skin contact and inhalation,” he stated.
The report called for urgent intervention, stating: “The scale, persistence, and risks associated with the Bille Hydrocarbon eruption demand an immediate, coordinated and multi-level response that addresses both the emergency conditions on the ground and the structural factors driving the crisis.
“Regulatory agencies, particularly the NUPRC and NOSDRA, must be compelled to conduct open, inclusive, and transparent investigations, including the immediate release of all outstanding environmental data. At the same time, there is a need to establish a coordinated incident command structure capable of managing response efforts across institutions and ensuring accountability.
“Finally, the response must be anchored in accountability and long-term remediation. A comprehensive investigation into operations and liabilities within OML18 is essential to determine the source and responsibility for the gas eruption.
“The polluter-pays principle must be enforced to ensure that responsible parties bear the costs of the cleanup, restoration and compensation,” the report added.
