‌By Godfrey Gabriel

Residents in the Niger Delta communities have raised fresh concerns over persistent oil spills and gas leaks in their areas, alleging unusual deaths,some health challenges following environmental degradation.

Speaking at the 2nd Session of the People’s Environmental Assembly held at in Port Harcourt yesterday, community leaders, activists, and frontline residents warned that decades of unaddressed hydrocarbon pollution have pushed host communities to the brink of survival.

The gathering, organized by We the People ,a human and ecological rights organization, convened under the theme: “The Niger Delta on the Road to Recovery: Shifting Power and Building Solidarity for Ecological Justice.”

Uncontained Gas Emissions and Surging Fatalities

Highlighting the crisis in coastal areas, the Vice President of the Bille Youth Federation in Degema Local Government Area of Rivers State, Timothy Agunbiade, reported that host communities near major oilfields—including OML 18, Krakrama, and Awoba flow stations—are suffering under a continuous gas seepage that began nearly a year ago.

Agunbiade revealed that local fatalities among young and middle-aged residents have escalated rapidly, with many dying without formal medical diagnosis or state accounting.

“In the month of September alone, we recorded seven deaths in Bille, and only one person was above 45 years old,” Agunbiade stated. “Between October 1 and today, we have lost four more people. These are non-accidental deaths occurring in an environment where toxic gas is continuously seeping from the earth and bubbling through our waterways, roads, and school premises.”

He recalled a July explosion in the community that critically burned a resident, Joy Amos, who later died after 19 days at a local clinic due to inadequate medical facilities. Agunbiade noted that residents are battling chronic respiratory issues, skin rashes, and throat irritation, calling on regulatory authorities to intervene before the community suffers a major disaster.

Hydrocarbon Toxicity and Reproductive Health Failures

Echoing these concerns, representatives from Bayelsa and Rivers states brought forward troubling health reports detailing the bodily accumulation of toxic chemicals among local populations.

Mitema Suoye George, representing the Otuabagi community in Bayelsa State—where commercial crude oil was first struck in 1956—disclosed that recent fact-finding health assessments conducted on 80 local women revealed dangerous levels of petroleum hydrocarbons in their bloodstreams.

“Women as young as 35 are experiencing early cessation of menstruation and severe reproductive challenges,” George said. “It is now rare to see two women in our community carrying pregnancy to safe delivery. We are surviving purely by the grace of God while our land, rivers, and food crops remain saturated with crude oil.”

Similarly, Dr. Emem Okon, Executive Director of the KebetKache Women Development & Resource Centre, faulted international oil companies (IOCs) for attempting to evade accountability through corporate asset divestments. She noted that divesting multinationals are abandoning polluted legacy assets to local buyers without performing environmental remediation or compensating affected host populations.

In his opening remarks, the Executive Director of We the People, Ken Henshaw, emphasized that Niger Delta communities must move past seeking financial compensation, arguing that monetary payouts cannot repair permanent ecological destruction or human health loss.

Henshaw cited established environmental benchmarks—such as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report on Ogoniland, which revealed benzene in drinking water at 900 times above international safety limits—to illustrate the scale of contamination.

“The argument for cash compensation is no longer tenable because money cannot restore polluted rivers, contaminated groundwater, or lost human lives,” Henshaw asserted. “What is required is a comprehensive environmental audit, total remediation of destroyed mangroves and waterways, and immediate public health interventions.”

He explained that the assembly was designed as a cultural eco-festival to honor frontline defenders—including spill documenters, mangrove restoration teams, traditional rulers challenging corporate negligence in foreign courts, and medical personnel documenting ecocide—while mobilizing local constituencies to demand accountability from state actors and operating companies.