The Executive Director of Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) Dr. Nnimmo Bassey, has expressed disappointment over the level of neglect oil spills impacted communities are suffering in Rivers State.
Bassey stated this on Thursday, May 15, 2025, after a visit by HOMEF team along with other CSOs to the spill site as the Trans Niger Pipeline erupted and triggered streams of crude oil flowing through B-Dere community, Gokana Local Government Area of the state.
He lamented that they met distressed indigenes of the community who expressed the high level of pain and a sense of exposure and abandonment.
The incident happened on May 6th, 2025, and the cause of the explosion is said to be equipment failure. Recall that a similar explosion occurred in the Bodo community on the 17th of March 2025, which caused a massive fire that spread through the mangroves.
These spils show clearly the massive risks the communities will be exposed to if the desire of the federal government to resume oil extraction in Ogoniland happens.
Many of the B-Dere community people have been internally displaced while those already impacted by the spill are living in fear over the health and safety.
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The HOMEF executive director said, “we are in a disaster zone and further disasters can erupt from even an accidental a spark of fire.
“The slow response of government and oil companies underscores the lack of care for the people and the environment. This level of laxity is absolutely unconscionable. The fact that this spill that happened a week ago is yet to be stopped sends a very strong point to why government should focus on cleaning up Ogoniland and not seek to open new oil wells.
“The old wells should be shut down, and decommissioned. Our communities must not continue to be sacrificed on the altar of petrodollars.”
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Bassey further called on all relevant authorities to move into action to curtail the spread of the flowing crude.
“The government cannot be silent at a time as this. This is a time when all agencies should be here to stop halting the shit down the pipeline, stop the pollution and carry out urgent clean up and remediation. We call on NOSDRA, NESRA, MENA and HYPREP to move into swift action to stem the unfolding ecological and human crises.”
On their part, the woman leader of the community, Chief Augustina Biebie, stated that the level of restlessness in the community has only worsened.
According to her, “the spill brought crude oil into houses of many of our people. The thick smell of crude oil has affected our health. Breathing has become a problem, and it has become difficult to even feed because some of us cannot light fires in our kitchens.”
Another native, Pastor Kpobari Bani, whose house was affected, revealed that “since this incident started, I have not been able to cook for fear of explosion. My mother has been displaced and has moved to a neighbour’s house for fear of the explosion. Shell said it has sold to Renaissance Oil, who now owns the pipeline. So we call on them to come and stop the spill.
“We also call on the government and other relevant authorities to come to our aid and bring remedy to the land.”
Also, Celestine Akpobari, an environmental activist, stated that “This is one of the reasons why we have rejected the idea of restarting oil exploitation in Ogoni. The exploitation has not started, but the situation is becoming more volatile with spills of this nature. This is supposed to be a remediation site, but as you can see it is an ecological crime scene. We are afraid that if this is not properly contained, the damage will be far worse than what we see.”
Further, HOMEF called for a swift action to plug the leakage, remediate the land and carry out a thorough health audit on the exposed people of the community.
“Government must show that they care for the people and the environment. Aged oil facilities should be decommissioned and retired, and all alleged divestments should be nullified to ensure that those who have made our communities literal land mines do not walk away from accountability.
“We all have a role in saving the environment. See something, say something.”
