By Arinze CHIJIOKE

IN this investigation, The ICIR unravels how recurrent spills from the Ogboinbiri/Tebidaba pipeline, operated by Oando Energy Resources, devastate communities in the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. 

On August 22, 2024, Oando Energy Resources, one of Africa’s leading energy solutions providers, announced the successful acquisition of Italian company Eni’s Nigerian subsidiary, Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), for $783 million. Oando described the takeover (on its website) as a significant milestone in its long-term strategy to “expand upstream operations and strengthen its position in the Nigerian oil and gas sector.

Commenting on the acquisition, Group Chief Executive of Oando, Wale Tinubu, said that the company’s immediate focus was on “optimising the assets’ immense potential, advancing production and contributing to our strategic objectives.” He added, however, that this would be done while also “prioritising responsible practices and sustainable development in ensuring a balanced approach to host communities and environmental stewardship.”

Wale is the nephew of Nigeria’s president, Bola Tinubu, whose administration has repeatedly reaffirmed its commitment to a just energy transition. At the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW), the President claimed that Nigeria was working hard to align with the Energy Transition and Climate Change.

The management of Oando told leaders of Ogboibiri, host community of four flow stations under the Oil Mining Lease (OML) 63 now being operated by the company and other nearby communities that they remain committed to operating with regard to the environment and well-being of the people. OML 63 is the second-largest License in Oando Energy Resources portfolio in terms of both production and reserves.

A community of spillage 

However, on September 5, 2024, a month after the takeover, the Ogboinbiri/Tebidaba pipeline operated by Oando burst open, spewing crude into swamps, forests and water bodies in Ogboinbiri, a community in the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

Findings from the Field Joint Investigation Report, with incident reference 2024/SAR/216 showed that the September 5 spill, which spewed about 217 barrels of crude oil into the environment, was caused by a rupture directly under the pipe.  The JIV had a combined team of Oando, the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) and the Bayelsa State Ministry of Environment.

More spills

The September spill was only the first of many to come. Between August, when Oando took over operations of the OML 63 from Agip, and May 2025, locals say that there have been four spill incidents from different points along the Ogboinbiri/Tebidaba pipeline, all of them caused by equipment failures.

While one of them occurred on October 4, another spill was reported on November 15, 2004. The most recent was reported on May 3, 2025.

However, New Style Ogiori, Chiefs Council Chairman of Keme Ebiama, a neighbouring community, said that the November incident was far-reaching in its impact and spread because it occurred during the flooding season.

“The spill flowed from the Ogiori stream into the Apoi Creek, spreading beyond Ogboibiri and Keme Ebiama to at least 10 communities up to the Atlantic Ocean, which is about a two-hour drive,” he said.

Ogiori claimed that the company had shut down operations immediately to avoid further spread upon notice of the spill but before then, a vast area of land had been impacted.

The impact of oil spills across host communities in the Niger Delta region, where production began in 1956 are glaring. Approximately 240,000 barrels of crude oil are spilled in the Niger Delta every year. Data from NOSDRA shows that between 2011 and 2022, there were 10,463 spill incidents in the Niger Delta, releasing a combined 507,135 barrels of oil into the environment.

“Human health, livelihood and environment of host communities have been impacted as a result,” said Deputy Director of the Environmental Defenders Network (EDEN), environmental rights groups, Morris Alagoa, adding: “It is the residents of these communities who are paying the price, and nobody cares.

“Farmers, fishermen count losses in Ogboibiri, Keme-Ebiama and other affected communities, almost every family is into farming and fishing, their major source of survival. These communities contribute significantly to the agricultural economy through the abundant waterways, including creeks, lagoons, rivers, and swamps.”

After the first spill in September, many residents did not bother to harvest their crops because it was harvesting season yet, and the impact of the spill at the time was minimal.

They hoped that there would not be a repeat, then came the second spill in October and then a third and a fourth. Approximately 10,000 farmers and fishermen have lost their sources of livelihood as a result. 

Ikainka Genenis, a resident of Keme Ebiama is one of them. He had gone to check on his farm when he discovered that all his fishing nets and traps were soaked in crude oil. That was during the November spill.

“As it rained, the spill spread further into the swamps, my mother’s fishponds were affected too,” Genesis, who was also part of the team that embarked on a JIV, said, adding: “I lost hundreds of fish.”

He said that fishes in the community had been chased away by the consistent spills, and this has affected livelihoods and the local economy. He, however, suggested that Oando should prepare a barrier wall to prevent crude oil from flowing into the swamps and causing damage whenever there is a spill.

“Except a proper remediation is done by Oando, the ponds will not have fish running into them for at least ten years, even when they do, they will be unfit for consumption,” he said.

The recurrent spillage also damaged plantain, cassava and rice plantations, according to victims.

Benson Emmanuel said he had not fully recovered from the spill, which destroyed his 10 hectares of rice farm in Ogboibiri. He had massively invested in rice farming, hoping for a bountiful yield during the harvest season.

“I was out with my friends when I was informed about the spill and that it had impacted my farmland. I planted over 300 bags of rice and was expecting 400 before the farm was submerged with crude. I only got three bags and that is what I have been surviving on since then,” he said.

Apart from planting, Emmanuel and his family also engage in fish farming at the same location. They travel to different markets in Yenagoa and Rivers State to sell after harvest. But even that was affected by the spill.

“At least 20 fishponds were damaged by the spill. All had fish in them, and they were floating on the water. From the 20 ponds, we were expecting 10 bags of 20kg; each of them cost N40,000.”

Emmanuel says his family’s food security had been affected. He can no longer feed his two wives and five children, adding that it was particularly worrying because Oando had not shown concern ever since. Now, he depends on friends to survive.

Like Emmanuel, Sarah Ogiori, a woman leader in Ogboibiri, said she lost over N1 million as the spill damaged her Cassava and plantain farms, many fishponds, which often gave her at least 100 buckets filled with fishes and over 200 crayfish traps.

“Before the spill, I would harvest 10 bags of Cassava daily, 10 painter buckets of crayfish each of which costs N10,000,” she said, adding: “I made N100,000 from the sale of 12 bunches of plantain. Now, I travel to Yenagoa to buy Cassava and plantain at very high prices.”

No efforts to clean up  

According to residents of communities spoken with, what is particularly worrying is that there appears to be no commitment to properly clean up the environment by Oando.

The National Oil Spill and Detection Agency (NOSDRA) is responsible for the detection and response to all oil spillages in Nigeria. It provides that all oil spills must (by law) be closed off/stopped by the oil company within 24 hours of being notified of an oil spill in their jurisdiction, after which a Joint Investigative Visit (JIV) is carried out.

 This reporter called and sent text messages to the Head of NOSDRA’s field Office in Yenagoa, Solomon Ukponevi to get the agency’s reaction on the recurrent spills.

The WhatsApp message reads: “I am reaching out regarding the recurrent oil spills from Oando pipeline in Bayelsa State. Community members are accusing the company of failing to clean up the spills. Are you aware of this and what is NOSDRA doing about that; what efforts are in place to address the recurring spills in Ogboinbiri?”

He responded by saying that he was “the wrong person to contact on this subject.”

Alagoa said that oil companies ought to have contingency plans so that as soon as JIVs are conducted, they mobilise contractors to the site for clean-up.  “Sadly, we have not seen that ever since, and it has almost become a culture because oil companies often get away with their actions.”

In October 2024, the House of Representatives committee on environment issued a seven-day ultimatum to Wale Tinubu and the management team at Oando to appear before it over perennial oil spillage in Ogboinbiri and other oil-producing communities in the region. The company had failed to appear before the committee after several letters of invitation were sent.

The Bayelsa State government had also threatened to sue oil companies for decades of oil pollution across communities in the state. This followed the findings of a report, ‘An Environmental Genocide: The Human and Environmental Cost of Big Oil in Bayelsa, Nigeria’.

The Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 provides for payment of fair and adequate compensation to anybody whose property is injuriously affected by oil exploration and production, using the term “fair and adequate” to define the level of compensation. 

Often, companies provide relief materials like water and food items to provide succour to families whose livelihoods are often affected whenever spills caused by equipment failure occur. But since the spills started, residents claim that there have been no relief materials.

Alagoa said that Oando’s actions violate provisions of Article 24 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which holds that the pursuit of profit must not overshadow environmental human rights.

“Neither the oil company nor regulators are even disposed to letting the public get information about such polluting incidents, let alone making efforts to address the sufferings of affected families.”

In Ogboibiri, Keme Ebiama and other affected communities, mangroves and wetlands have been significantly threatened. The spill still covers the surfaces of roots and stems, blocking pores that allow trees to breathe.

Mangroves serve as natural buffers against storms, erosion and rising sea levels. They combat climate change by acting as powerful carbon sinks, effectively absorbing and storing large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Compelled to consume contaminated water?

Prosper Ogiori, Development Chairman of Keme Ebiama, said that the community does not have boreholes, hence some locals who cannot afford to buy water are forced to drink from the contaminated sources. He said that they sieve out the crude from the water and use it to cook, drink and wash or wait for it to rain so they can fetch water.

Several studies have linked the consumption of water contaminated by crude oil to respiratory issues, nervous system complications. Crude oil contains a mixture of different hydrocarbons, including alkanes, cycloalkanes, aromatic hydrocarbons, and alkenes known as Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH).

In a study conducted by a lecturer at the University of Benin, Lucy Uju and other experts on the environmental and health influences of crude oil spills in Niger Delta, it was found that one TPH compound (benzene) causes breast and urinary tract cancer and reduces red and white blood cell production in bone marrow.

Apart from drinking contaminated water, locals are exposed through skin contact or by breathing contaminated air. Children are also exposed by playing in contaminated soil. This can negatively impact future health by causing a range of issues, including neurological problems, reproductive issues, and potential carcinogenicity.

“Long-term exposure causes permanent damage to the central nervous system. If exposures are high enough, death can occur,” according to a report by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

Our hands are tied-Bayelsa govt

Enai Reuben, the Director of Petroleum and Pollution at the Bayelsa State Ministry of Environment said that while the state government frowns at the disregard of the wellbeing of community members by oil companies like Oando, its powers are limited because issues like the regulation of pipeline operations are in the exclusive list and that limits the powers of the state.

Since the 1990s when the pipes were laid across the communities, they have not been changed till Oando took over operations. Many pipelines like that have existed for decades, some of them for over sixty years, without maintenance. And because they are bad and weak, they constantly burst open when there is heavy pressure during the transportation of crude oil to the export terminals. 

The Petroleum Pipeline Regulations, under the PIA, require pipelines to be thoroughly inspected and deemed safe before operations can begin. This is crucial for ensuring the safety of workers, preventing environmental damage, and upholding legal compliance. However, there is no implementation.

“We appealed to Agip to change the pipes to minimise spill, now we are also appealing to Oando, and nobody is listening to us,” said Donmoh Jonathan, a youth leader in Ogboibiri, adding: “They don’t even make efforts to maintain it if they cannot change; they only come to repair after a spill occurs.”

Locals say that what the company does at best, each time there is a spill, is to clamp the pipeline whenever it ruptures, and that does not solve the problem.

Equipment failure caused spills – Oando  

The head of Safety and Compliance (HSC) at Oando, Robert Omekwe, admitted that the spills were a result of equipment failure. He, however, claimed that it is the affected community that recommends a contractor for clean-up, while the company checks if it has a DPR permit (license required for companies operating in the Nigerian oil and gas industry). Once that is confirmed, the contract will be awarded. 

He also said that the company was aware of the need to change the pipelines, adding, however, that because it only took over from Agip, it will need time to stabilise and fix the pipeline.

Alagoa said that more equipment failures leading to spills will be recorded, especially as divestment is going on, where multinational oil companies are handing over facilities to indigenous companies who lack the technological capacity and finances to maintain them.

Unresolved controversy over impacted hectares of land  

Months after the initial spills, there is still no agreement between the affected communities and Oando regarding the area impacted by the spill. While the company claims that 9.5 hectares of land were impacted (as contained in the JIV), Ogboibiri disagrees, claiming that it surveyed the areas impacted with an independent private surveyor and found that the spill impacted more than 45.6 hectares of land.

On February 5, 2025, the paramount ruler of Ogboinbiri community, Chief Okosughe Eseimokumo, petitioned the commissioner for environment in Bayelsa state seeking an intervention to harmonise the disparity.

In the petition, Eseimokumo said that the area impacted was far bigger than what was contained in the JIV because the spill occurred during the continuous rise of the 2024 flooding, adding that the spill continued to spread even after the JIV.  He said that the difference in the area is the reason why they have yet to sign the JIV report.

Following the petition, all parties were invited by the Bayelsa State Commissioner for Environment, Ebi Ben-Ololo. The aim was to see how the communities and Oando could shift ground and reach a middle ground so that they could begin to pay compensation.

“But the company insisted on its findings, claimed the CDC chairman, Ogiori, adding that it was finally agreed that the site be revisited,”.

On April 12, the spill sites were revisited, with surveyors and other representatives from both the Ministry of Environment, the communities (represented by their surveyor and claim agent) and the Oando team.  After the tour of the site, it was confirmed that the spill covered more than 40 hectares. Reuben confirmed this.

After the field revisit, community members continued to wait for a proper cleanup, relief materials and compensation from Oando. Reuben says it requires some documentation which have not been done so far.

“We cannot move ahead till the documentation is done, we were supposed to meet to harmonise the figures so that all parties can agree and sign, but that took time because our surveyor worked on the map of the impacted areas and we are also waiting for Oando drivers to call off their strike so we can meet.”

Omekwe also said that what is holding back the compensation is the fact that both parties have not agreed on the area impacted by the spills.

“Oando is willing to work together with the community to address the situation. They only need to work in alignment and sign the JIVs so that everything that should come to the community will be provided,” he said.

Although the floods have gone away, locals say crude oil has seeped into the ground and continues to render farmlands unproductive. Those who own land in other locations are turning back to them for the new planting season; those who do not own land get them on lease. But their fears remain with the frequency of the spills.

“We are hungry, we are dying, and no one cares,” said Sarah. “We have the resources, but we don’t enjoy the gains.”