Participants at Saturday’s People’s Assembly on the gas leak in Bille Community in Degema Local Government Area of Rivers State have demanded immediate declaration of a state of emergency in the community by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The participants made up of civil society groups, traditional rulers, community, women and youth organisations and human rights activists said the situation in Bille required no further delay lest the situation degenerate into a colossal human disaster.
The gas leakages in the community were noticed since last year by residents who noticed bubbles on the waters around the community, openings in the neighbourhoods and bubbling fumes emerging from water wells. Upon further investigation, it was established that the bubbles and fumes were underground gas escaping to the surface.
Saturday’s People’s Assembly was convened by Dr. Isaac Osuoka, the Director, Social Action, a civil society organisations based in Port Harcourt with the support of other civil society organisations like Kebetkache.
It also came with a medical outreach where residents were examined by experts and given prescriptive drugs.
Dr. Osuoka said the urgency of the situation in Bille demands immediate action by the Federal Government because any accident could lead to a disastrous fire that cannot be managed.
“The lives. The very lives of those living in these communities are threatened. People are living in fear. There is uncertainty because because at any point in time, there could be an unmanageable fire situation,” Osuoka said.
Lamenting that though several government departments and oil companies had visited the community to take samples for assessment since the outbreak of the gas leakages, no response had come from them to stop the leakage or even support the residents, who have been exposed health and safety dangers.
He called out the Ministers and commissioners of health and environment, and President Bola Tinubu , who is the substantive Minister of Petroleum on this matter.
“The overwhelming view of those who came to this assembly is that this outrage in Bille cannot be allowed to continue because it is about the lives of people,” the Social Action director said.
Prominent Niger Delta activist, Ms. Annkio Briggs, said the situation in Bille was beyond mere palliatives. “I am alarmed at what I saw. I am angry. I hope you can feel it in my words. But I am helpless. The President, who is also minister of Petroleum , should intervene,” she said.
The women’s leader of Bille Community, Mrs. Nene Akinda, said the waters and farms were no longer safe for them. She said the people have rashes all over their bodies and the children has to be taken to clinics for medical treatment from stomach and other problems they suspect emanated from drinking and using the contaminated waters.
One of the ward leaders, WariDabo Emma Harry, said the people depended on well water for domestic use but are now faced with a direct situation because they more than half of the water wells are filled with gas.
He said they now get water supplies from outside, which was not regular. He added that sachet water that they drink is also scare and costly because they are brought in from Port Harcourt. “Pure water bag is now N1,000 and there’s nowhere to buy it here” he said.
The Secretary of the Community’s Health and Environment Committee, Chief Napoleon Hezekiah, said the fire truck dispatched to the community was not enough because it cannot move around freely because of the narrow paths between houses. He said fire extinguishers and other fire preventive devices were needed.
He however said the people did not need to be evacuated. “The Federal Government can build gas plants and commingle the gas into a gas plant and then use it to to generate energy and provide jobs,” he said.
Other speakers at the People’s Assembly were Dr. Celestine Akpobari of Mideekor organisation, an Ogoni activist, Hon. Iniruo Wills, a Frontline environmental rights activists and the President of the Ijaw Youth Congress, Eastern Zone, Amb. Datolu Sukubo.
