Declare state of emergency in Rivers community, groups urge FG

Civil society organisations and environmentalists have called on the Federal Government to immediately declare a state of emergency in Bille Kingdom, Degema Local Government Area of Rivers State, following what they described as a worsening environmental crisis in the area.

Recall that gas bubbling from the earth for several months has contaminated water sources and affected the livelihoods of residents in the coastal community.

Speaking after conducting journalists around various affected sites within the kingdom on Saturday, the Executive Director of Social Action, Isaac Osuoka, described the situation as an emergency that threatens the lives of residents of Bille Kingdom.

Osuoka expressed concern that rivers and water wells used by residents for drinking water had been heavily polluted for more than six months, despite repeated appeals to the Federal Government for intervention.

“As we have all seen, moving around the community, gas is bubbling from beneath the earth and even on the water everywhere. The water wells that the people depend on for drinking are already polluted, and this has been going on for six months or more. It is an outrage that the government of Nigeria has failed to respond despite repeated pleas by the people,” he said.

Meanwhile, the visit triggered protests by Bille residents, comprising men and women, who displayed placards alongside the CSOs to draw attention to their plight.

Some of the inscriptions on the placards read: “Our mangroves are gone, our water polluted”, “No farming, no fishing, no livelihood anymore in Bille”, and “The gas bubbles are not decorations, they are poison”, among others.

Osuoka lamented the inaction of relevant government agencies, particularly the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, noting that despite visits and promises to investigate the incident, no concrete action had been taken.

The CSO leader noted that in the event of a fire outbreak, even the fire truck deployed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited might prove ineffective because of Bille’s riverine terrain.

“There is uncertainty because at any point in time there could be an unmanageable fire situation,” he warned, adding that the community was already grappling with air pollution.

While noting that the situation had become unbearable, Osuoka said the Federal Government must declare an environmental emergency in Bille Kingdom and immediately address the gas seepage to save lives.

He added, “The overwhelming view of everybody is that this outrage in Bille cannot be allowed to continue because it is about the lives of the people. Whatever measures the people will need to take to stop oil activities, if necessary, they will do it to protect their lives.”

Also speaking, prominent Niger Delta activist, Ann-Kio Briggs, painted a grim picture of the crisis after touring the community.

Briggs said, “I cannot tell you how terrible it is because I’m not a scientist, but just as a human being here today, months after what I can smell and what I can see and what I’ve been able to record on my phone, you don’t need to be told that something terrible is happening here.”

She continued, “Anywhere there is air, the gas is following it, and so if there is water in front of it, you will see it bubbling up from the water right from the waterfront. You don’t need to be a scientist to be told that this is very likely to be dangerous.”

Briggs expressed fears of a possible fire outbreak and criticised the continued delay by the Federal Government in addressing the environmental crisis.

“We have a President of the country who is the substantive Petroleum Minister. There are many NNPCL officials who should have come here to tell the people of the Niger Delta what is happening, what they should do, and what they should not do,” Briggs stated.

She questioned the provision of palliatives to residents while they still lacked access to safe drinking water and called on the community’s representatives in the National Assembly to rise to the occasion.

“I just don’t believe that we live in a country that can put people through what they have been going through since last year. They don’t have drinking water. I don’t know what this fire truck is doing here.

“They have representatives. Their job is not only to fight the governor of the state; their job is to represent the people of Rivers State. Bille is in Degema Local Government Area. What are the representatives doing? What exactly are they doing for the people of Bille?” she queried.

Chairman of the Ijaw Youth Council, Eastern Zone, Datolu Sukubo, echoed the group’s demands and accused the government of negligence, saying authorities appeared unwilling to come to the aid of the people despite the severity of the situation.

Sukubo also criticised the lack of a comprehensive environmental study to determine the extent of the damage and its impact on residents’ lives and livelihoods.

“The Bille situation has not occurred anywhere else in Nigeria — gas bubbling in virtually every source of water the people drink. Why have they not embarked on comprehensive subsidence studies?” he queried.