For generations, the river has been the lifeline of Nembe Creek.

Before sunrise, fishermen push their canoes into the dark waters, carrying nets, hooks and the hope of returning home with enough fish to feed their families and earn a little money.

Women wait on the riverbanks to process and sell the catch.

Children grow up learning the tides, the creeks and the places where fish are most plentiful.

But today, many residents say the river that once sustained their families has become a source of fear, loss and uncertainty.

The pungent smell of crude oil now hangs over parts of the waterways around Nembe Creek following an oil spill that occurred on August 22 during crude oil loading operations at Oil Mining Lease 29 (OML 29).

For the fishing communities, the incident is more than an environmental disaster.

It is a threat to food, income and survival.

When the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) visited the affected area, the organisation said crude oil was visible in waterways and along mangrove banks.

The smell of petroleum, according to the organisation, could be detected about two kilometres before reaching the community.

Residents told the organisation that tidal movements had carried the pollution through interconnected waterways and fishing settlements.

For people whose lives are tied to the river, the consequences have been immediate.

‘We cannot go fishing again’

Mrs Love Mark, Vice-Chairlady of Nembe Creek women, is among those counting the losses.

Her fishing nets, which should be tools for feeding her family and earning an income, have reportedly been rendered unusable by the pollution.

“We cannot go out with our fishing nets and hooks for fishing again,” she said.

Replacing those nets is not something most families can easily afford.

According to Mark, a fishing net now costs between N150,000 and N170,000.

For a family already struggling with declining catches, the cost is enormous.

The problem is not simply the price of replacing a damaged net.

It is what happens when there is no river left to fish.

Every day a fisherman stays ashore is another day without income.

Every damaged net is money lost.

Every failed fishing trip means less food on the table.

And every polluted creek raises questions about what has happened to the fish and other aquatic life that once made the waters productive.

‘There are no fish in the river’

For HRH Agent Waya, Paramount Ruler of Nembe Creek communities, the situation reflects years of environmental degradation.

“Due to the destruction of aquatic life, there are no fish in the river,” he said.

The traditional ruler said fishermen sometimes deploy two or three canoes and still return without a meaningful catch.

For the community, this is a painful reversal.

The river that once provided abundance now demands more effort for less reward.

The loss is not confined to fishermen.

When fishing collapses, the women who smoke and sell fish lose income.

Boat operators lose customers.

Fish traders lose supplies.

Families struggle to pay school fees.

Households that depend on daily fishing income are forced to borrow, cut down on meals or look for alternative livelihoods that may not exist in their remote riverine environment.

The spill therefore threatens an entire local economy built around the waterways.

Protest from the women

Following the incident, community women reportedly protested at the oil facility.

Their demands were straightforward: clean up the pollution, assess the damage and provide support to residents whose livelihoods have been affected.

But behind those demands is a deeper frustration.

For communities living around OML 29, oil pollution is not a new experience.

Residents have lived through previous incidents and continue to grapple with the environmental consequences.

HOMEF Executive Director, Dr Nnimmo Bassey, said the latest incident must therefore not be treated as an isolated event.

He pointed specifically to the prolonged Santa Barbara Well 1 spill and wellhead blowout in 2021.

According to Bassey, identifying the immediate cause of a spill should not bring the accountability process to an end.

Instead, recurring pollution around the same oil-producing environment should raise broader questions about environmental governance, infrastructure, operational safety and the protection of communities.

What really happened?

The Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) into the latest incident reportedly concluded that the leak resulted from operational failure.

But HOMEF says important questions remain unanswered.

As of September 1, the organisation said the volume of crude released and the full geographical extent of the pollution were still inconclusive.

For affected residents, those details matter.

How much crude entered the environment?

How far did it travel?

Which communities and fishing camps were affected?

How many fishing nets and other equipment were damaged?

What happened to aquatic organisms?

Which waterways and mangrove forests have been contaminated?

And perhaps most importantly: who will pay for the damage?

These are not merely technical questions.

They determine the scale of the cleanup, the people who qualify for compensation and the extent of ecological restoration required.

A river cannot be compensated with silence

HOMEF is demanding that Nembe Exploration and Production Ltd., the Bayelsa State Government and relevant federal regulatory agencies publish the complete JIV findings.

The organisation wants the report to clearly establish the cause of the spill, the estimated volume of crude released, the geographical spread of the contamination and the communities affected.

It is also calling for an independent and comprehensive environmental assessment covering waterways, mangroves, fishing grounds and settlements.

The foundation wants immediate cleanup and ecological restoration, backed by clear timelines and transparent monitoring.

But for families already facing losses, restoration cannot be reduced to removing visible crude from the surface of the water.

The fishing economy must also be restored.

HOMEF is demanding compensation for verified livelihood and economic losses, including damaged fishing equipment and lost fishing time.

It is also calling for urgent relief for affected households, particularly fishing families who have suddenly lost their main source of income.

The invisible cost of an oil spill

Oil spills are often measured in barrels, litres or hectares of contaminated land.

But in Nembe Creek, the real cost is also measured in empty fishing nets.

It is measured in the price of a new canoe.

It is measured in the N150,000 to N170,000 required to replace a fishing net.

It is measured in the hours a fisherman spends on the river without catching enough fish to justify the trip.

It is measured in the woman who sits at home instead of processing fish for sale.

It is measured in the child whose school fees become harder to pay because the family income has disappeared.

And it is measured in the silence of a river that once provided food.

More than the spill itself

HOMEF says the community’s concerns also extend beyond the immediate oil leak.

The foundation raised concerns about the wider operational activities associated with crude loading, including navigational buoys and vessel movements that communities say can interfere with fishing grounds and damage fishing equipment.

For residents, environmental protection therefore cannot begin and end when crude oil becomes visible on the water.

It must include prevention.

It must include safe operations.

It must include early warning and emergency response.

It must include communities in decision-making.

And it must include transparent investigations when things go wrong.

HOMEF is calling for sustained environmental and health monitoring of water, sediments, fish and other aquatic organisms.

It also wants stronger spill prevention and emergency response systems around crude-loading facilities.

Who speaks for the people of Nembe?

One of the biggest concerns surrounding the incident is the communication gap.

While the affected communities are speaking about destroyed fishing equipment, disappearing aquatic resources and lost livelihoods, Public Affairs officials of Nembe Exploration and Production have remained silent on the incident.

The company has reportedly declined to provide requisite updates on containment efforts.

For residents, that silence adds another layer of anxiety.

When people see crude oil in the water but do not know the extent of the contamination, they are left to make decisions about their health and livelihoods with limited information.

Can they safely fish?

Can they eat fish caught from the affected waterways?

Is the water safe for domestic use?

Has the leak been completely contained?

What is being done to prevent another incident?

These questions require clear answers from the operator and the relevant regulatory authorities.

Nembe cannot continue paying the price

The people of Nembe Creek are not asking for the river to be turned into something it has never been.

They are asking for the river they inherited to remain capable of sustaining life.

They want to fish.

They want to feed their families.

They want to replace damaged equipment.

They want polluted waterways cleaned.

They want their mangroves protected.

And they want those responsible for environmental damage to be held accountable.

HOMEF says authorities must address the wider legacy of pollution around OML 29 instead of responding to each incident as though it exists in isolation.

That call is particularly important for communities that have experienced repeated environmental harm.

For Nembe Creek, the August 22 spill may have begun as an operational failure at an oil facility.

But its consequences have travelled far beyond the facility’s boundaries.

They have entered fishing grounds, mangroves, homes and family budgets.

They have entered the lives of people who may never see the oil company’s boardroom but whose survival depends directly on the waters around them.

The question now is whether the response will go beyond containment.

Whether the cleanup will be thorough.

Whether compensation will reach those who have actually lost their livelihoods.

Whether the complete investigation will be made public.

Whether the damaged ecosystem will be restored.

And whether lessons from previous spills will finally translate into stronger prevention.

For the fishermen of Nembe Creek, the river is not just water.

It is their market.

Their kitchen.

Their workplace.

Their inheritance.

Their future.

And as crude oil continues to threaten that future, the people of Nembe Creek are asking a simple question:

Who will restore the river—and who will pay for what has been lost?