By Eunice Nnachi
For the people of Bille Kingdom in Rivers State, the struggle to survive is no longer limited to finding food, earning a living or sending their children to school. It has become a daily battle against an environment they fear may be harming their health, destroying their livelihoods and threatening their future.
In this riverine community, where fishing, farming and periwinkle picking have sustained families for generations, residents say familiar sources of water have become questionable, strange odours linger in the air, and disturbing incidents have left people searching for answers.
For some families, the fear is immediate. For others, it is the uncertainty of not knowing what is happening beneath their feet, in their water sources or in the air they breathe.
These concerns brought Bille’s environmental crisis to the centre of national attention at the fifth National Extractives Dialogue, held recently in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Convened by Spaces for Change (S4C), led by its Executive Director, Victoria Ohaeri-Ibezim, in partnership with the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), with support from the Ford Foundation, the dialogue sought to confront a difficult question: who takes responsibility when an oil-producing community fears its environment is no longer safe?
More than 120 participants, including lawmakers, regulators, government officials, traditional institutions, community representatives, civil society organisations, academics, technical experts, development partners and journalists, gathered to examine the crisis under the theme, “Remediation Before Divestment and Energy Transition: Amplifying the Bille Environmental Crisis.”
But beyond the conference hall, the issue was about people whose everyday lives have been unsettled by the fear of pollution.
A community living with unanswered questions
Community accounts presented at the dialogue painted a troubling picture of life in Bille.
Residents described persistent, unpleasant odours, prolonged gas leaks, unusual bubbling on the surfaces of water sources and sudden explosions. They also raised concerns about suspected water contamination, deteriorating environmental conditions and the loss of livelihoods.
For families that depend on local water sources for domestic activities, uncertainty has become another burden.
Residents reportedly increasingly rely on sachet and bottled water for drinking, cooking, bathing and washing because they fear their usual sources may be unsafe. For households already struggling to meet basic needs, buying water adds another expense to daily survival.
The crisis also threatens livelihoods. Fishing and other traditional occupations depend on healthy waterways and functioning ecosystems. When residents fear that their surroundings are polluted, the consequences extend beyond the environment to the money they earn, the food they put on their tables and their ability to provide for their children.
The concerns raised at the dialogue included reports of chest pains, skin itching, boils, fainting spells among children and prolonged stooling. Residents fear these symptoms may be connected to environmental exposure, although medical examinations and scientific investigations are necessary to establish their causes.
For parents, the uncertainty is especially frightening. When children reportedly become unwell and the surrounding environment is suspected of being unsafe, families are left asking questions that require urgent, evidence-based answers.
Education has also come under pressure. Accounts presented at the meeting indicated that fears about safety have affected school attendance, while some teachers and National Youth Service Corps members have reportedly been reluctant to serve in the area.
A community cannot easily plan for tomorrow when its children struggle to attend school today.
When environmental hardship enters the home
The crisis is also being felt within households, where the struggle to access safe water can turn ordinary domestic responsibilities into sources of tension.
One account shared at the dialogue alleged that a young woman was beaten because she failed to wash her husband’s traditional clothing properly with clean water.
The allegation illustrates how environmental hardship can deepen existing inequalities and expose women to additional pressure. Where water is scarce, contaminated or difficult to obtain, women and girls may carry a disproportionate share of the burden of finding it and managing household needs.
For them, pollution is not simply an environmental issue discussed at official meetings. It can affect their health, dignity, safety and ability to care for their families.
Participants also heard the account of Joy Amos, who reportedly suffered an explosion in her bedroom after receiving a telephone call and died nine days later from her injuries.
Her story added a painful dimension to the community’s fears. However, the precise circumstances of the explosion and its cause require investigation; the account alone does not establish a direct link to gas emissions or environmental contamination.
For Bille residents, the demand is clear: incidents that threaten human life must not remain surrounded by unanswered questions.
A lawmaker calls for urgent intervention
The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Host Communities, Rt. Hon. Dumnamene Robinson Dekor, described the situation as a ticking time bomb and a serious public health and human rights crisis.
He called on the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs to establish immediate medical camps, distribute relief materials and develop evacuation plans for residents in areas identified as high-risk.
Dekor argued that the situation demanded action rather than prolonged discussions, warning that the consequences of delay could become more severe.
“We must put politics aside to save Bille Kingdom. We will not stand by and watch Bille Kingdom sink into an environmental abyss,” he said.
“The people of Bille deserve clean air, safe water, and a secure future, and we will not rest until this gets done.”
He also urged the Rivers State Government to intensify its intervention, stressing that the state has a significant responsibility to protect its citizens.
Dekor said his committee was prepared to connect affected communities with the relevant institutions and support the development of policies that would translate discussions into practical relief.
“As Chairman of the House Committee on those communities, I wish to affirm that my committee stands fully ready to act as that bridge, facilitating open dialogue, supporting necessary policy frameworks, and ensuring that our agreements here are translated into lasting relief on the ground,” he said.
The dialogue also called for Rivers State to consider declaring Bille a disaster zone and to work with the National Emergency Management Agency on appropriate emergency and evacuation planning.
What the investigations reveal so far
While residents demand answers, NOSDRA says technical investigations into the situation have commenced but are not yet concluded.
Preliminary findings presented at the dialogue reportedly indicated pollution affecting soil, water and air. Multi-gas detectors and air-quality assessments at nine locations reportedly identified significant air pollution, with carbon dioxide among the prominent gases detected, alongside hydrocarbons and volatile compounds.
Further testing, including gas fingerprinting and another round of investigations, is needed to establish more conclusively the sources and nature of the emissions.
Although approximately 28 oil wells near Bille are operated by four companies, preliminary investigations reportedly suggest that the emissions detected are not linked to assets managed by those operators.
That preliminary position is not a final determination of responsibility. Establishing the source of pollution requires comprehensive scientific evidence, transparent reporting and further investigation.
Participants raised comparisons with the 1986 Lake Nyos disaster in Cameroon, where a sudden release of carbon dioxide killed 1,746 people and thousands of livestock. The comparison served as a warning about the potential dangers of certain gas releases; it does not establish that Bille is experiencing the same geological phenomenon.
The priority remains determining what is happening in Bille and protecting residents while investigations continue.
Who pays when oil assets change hands?
For Spaces for Change and its partners, the Bille crisis also raises a broader question about accountability in Nigeria’s petroleum industry.
At a time when oil and gas assets may be sold or transferred to new operators, environmental liabilities must not disappear into corporate transactions.
The dialogue called for environmental damage to be identified, assessed, disclosed and independently verified before divestment. A change in ownership, participants stressed, should not become a means of escaping responsibility for environmental harm.
The Petroleum Industry Act provides for an Environmental Remediation Fund under Section 103, covering relevant upstream petroleum environmental rehabilitation and management obligations. Whether the provision applies to specific circumstances in Bille depends on the applicable legal requirements and the connection to relevant assets or activities.
NOSDRA also highlighted proposed mechanisms, including an Oil Spill Trust Fund and an Oil Spill and Associated Impact Liability Clearance Certificate, intended to address funding gaps and clarify liabilities.
NEITI stressed the importance of emissions and greenhouse-gas disclosures in industry reporting, while participants called for environmental information to be made accessible to affected communities.
The dialogue further drew attention to the need for comprehensive remediation: safe drinking water, healthcare, alternative livelihoods, mangrove restoration, skills development, meaningful community engagement and monitoring after cleanup.
Beyond promises, Bille needs protection
At the close of the two-day dialogue, participants called for a coordinated response framework, stronger environmental-liability audits before divestment, improved financing and transparency, better monitoring and data-sharing, urgent protection of public health and livelihoods, and sustained community participation.
These resolutions will matter only if institutions translate them into action.
For a parent worried about a child’s unexplained illness, a fisher uncertain about the water that sustains a livelihood, or a woman struggling to secure safe water for her household, another resolution is not enough.
Bille needs credible investigations, accessible healthcare, safe water, transparent communication and emergency measures based on verified risks. Residents also need to be involved in decisions that affect their homes, health and future.
By placing Bille at the centre of the National Extractives Dialogue, Spaces for Change, under the leadership of Victoria Ohaeri-Ibezim, helped bring community concerns into a national conversation involving regulators, lawmakers, industry accountability institutions and civil society.
The challenge now is to ensure that the voices heard in Port Harcourt are not forgotten when the delegates return to their offices.
For Bille Kingdom, the crisis is not an abstract debate about oil, emissions or energy transition. It is about whether people can breathe safely, access clean water, send their children to school and earn a living without living in fear.
Until those questions receive credible answers and meaningful action follows, the people of Bille w
ill continue to wait for something more important than promises: the chance to live safely in their own community.
