A coalition of Civil Society Groups in Rivers State under the aegis of the Peoples Assembly, has launched a campaign tagged ‘No clean up in Bille, no election in the Niger Delta region’, to persuade the Federal Government to attend to gas eruption in the community.
The group made the demand in Port Harcourt, Rivers State following the continuation of gas bubbling in Bille over a year now.
The group is asking the people of the Niger Delta to refuse to vote for any candidate who would not commit to cleanup of the region, especially on the Bille gas eruption.
Prince Ekpere, of Social Action, in a press conference, lamented that since after the gas leakage in Bille over one year ago that nothing has been done to assuage the plight of the people of the community.
He warned that if nothing is done about the cleanup in the region that the people will not come out to vote in the 2027 general elections.
Bieye Renner Briggs, of the Community Environmental Protection and Health Foundation, called on President Bola Tinubu to seize his visit to Rivers State for his campaign to visit Bille Community suffering the gas eruption and see things himself.
He expressed worry why President Tinubu would only be interested in coming to Rivers State for campaign to seek for votes, but would pay deaf ears to the environmental challenges suffered, by the people.
‘For about a year, gas has been bubbling out of the ground and water of Bille Kingdom, in Degema Local Government Area, of Rivers State, saturating and poisoning the air.
‘It rises through creeks, hand dug wells, boreholes, and within any available space in and around homes, schools and many other open grounds. These gases has caught fire and exploded many times within the Bille Community’ he said
Emem Okon, Executive Directive, Kebetkache Women and Development Centre maintained that NOSDRA and NUPRC, had carried out a joint investigation visit and preliminary tests at different intervals, but no operator has yet been named as the source, and the agencies, especially NOSDRA appear to be starving of funds, noting that without federal action, nothing will change until more people die; this is a genocide in waiting.
They called on the Federal Government to declare Bille a national environmental, safety and public health emergency, move residents to safety, fund and lead an urgent effort to find and stop the gas leaks, and hold the operators accountable’ she said.
They further explained that Bille is an oil- and gas-producing riverine Ijaw kingdom within the areas of Oil Mining Leases (OML) 18 and 24, as residents report that gas began bubbling from the ground and water around October 2025. Since then, the crisis has only grown.
The group further stated that Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) became aware of the leak, but did nothing.
They stressed that the Peoples Assembly held a town hall meeting in Bille, convened by Social Action in Collaboration Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre and other civil society organizations, to address the gas eruption, environmental pollution, and threats to residents’ lives and livelihoods.
‘The community has recorded 11 deaths associated with the crisis. An independent monitoring team has also confirmed unsafe levels of methane, hydrogen sulphide and carbon dioxide in Bille, and residents report vomiting, breathing problems and other illnesses’ they stated.’
They urged the Federal Government to set up a Presidential task force that will bring together NOSDRA, NUPRC, the operators of the OMLs 18 and 24, the Federal Ministries of Health and Environment, NEMA, the Rivers State Government, Civil Society Organisations and community representatives to immediately find solutions to ending the life threatening disaster and relocate the people to a safe place with shelter, food and health services.
Bille community in Degema Local Government Area of Rivers State, is a national model for responding to similar emergencies in other Niger Delta communities, such as Uzere, Alakiri , Rumuekpe, Aleto among others.