Oil Spill Disaster: Part 1 – Nigerian Communities Struggle with Diarrhea, Scabies, and Hunger

This six-month investigation by Sunday Elom, Elfredah Kevin-Alerechi and Faith Imbu revealed the environmental cost of oil spills in the Niger Delta, their impact, and the government’s failure to properly implement the 3% host communities’ fund. We travelled to Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta and Akwa-Ibom States to reveal the level of environmental cost of oil spills.

It was a Monday morning, cloudy and it seemed like rain was about to drop when The Colonist Report Africa entered Ayamasa community in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. 

Just at the bank of the river where our reporter had disembarked from the speedboat, community residents were seen arriving into the community while some were exiting the village by boat.

At the riverbank, commercial motorcycles were parked as the drivers waited for passengers. Children were seen enjoying the cloudy weather, playing football with their clothes off.

But beneath the apparent calm, Ayamasa, a small village in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State and a host community to the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), now taken over by Oando Plc in September 2024, is slowly suffocating under the weight of oil. 

With every spill from the Tsuomo-Ogainbiri Gas Delivery Pipeline, the community sinks deeper into hunger, disease, and despair.

One might expect that a community hosting a multinational company and benefiting from the established law of 3% shares for host communities would have basic amenities such as access to healthcare centers, potable drinking water, and clean air. 

However, the opposite is true. Environmental pollution from oil spills has destroyed community farmlands, contaminated drinking water, and affected rivers where fishers catch fish.

Life in a Polluted Paradise  

Residents of the community claimed that diarrhea, scabies, amongst others, affect them every time there is an oil spill from the Tsuomo-Ogainbiri Gas Delivery Pipeline in the community. The Colonist Report Africa also saw rashes on the skin of some residents.

The Chairman of the community,  Apeikumo Aleibiri, accused  the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) for polluting the community through its constant gas leakage and oil spills. 

He described the company’s activities as a major cause of climate change in the area, leading to more frequent and higher floods and excessive hot weather.

Neither did NAOC or Oando respond to our email for comment. 

Aleibiri told The Colonist Report Africa that despite his community’s contribution to the wealth of the country through its oil and activities resource, the community has continued to suffer, as they seem to have been sidelined. 

He pointed out that for over six years, there has not been electricity supply in Ayamasa community.

“Some areas of our water now have no fish in it because when the oil spills everywhere, fish cannot stay there again,” Aleibiri said.

“We don’t have fish anymore. Apart from the big river, the swamp areas don’t have fish anymore.”

He further noted that while oil spillage from the company’s pipeline spills over to the swamps and rivers, killing fishes, the gas from the company station is blown by the breeze, which pollutes the atmosphere and also affects residents. 

“The odour gives us diarrhea and particular sickness that causes itching on the body,” he said.

Some residents say they usually scratch their bodies as a result of the air pollution. “It is more or less like chicken pox. When it is serious, once you enter our community, you see everyone scratching their bodies,” Aleibiri said.

Asked about the major cause of the oil spill, Aleibiri said, “Our people, the youths, vandalize it (pipeline) because they are making money from it. This gas they are vandalizing brings sickness.”

“We suffered this sickness for over a year plus. Even till now, some people still have it in our community.

“The healing just started three months ago, which is from July [2024] but since they stopped the vandalization of the pipelines, the odour has stopped coming to us or reduced and the problem has subsided but overall, we are still suffering a lot in our community.”

Checks on the records by the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) website showed that the latest spill in the community occurred on May 3, 2024, at the pipeline location, 6” Tuomo-Ogbainbiri Gas Delivery Pipeline at Ayamasa gas line. According to the report from NOSDRA, the spill was caused by the activities of vandals who hacksaw cut about 133mm of the pipeline at a 5-7 o’clock position at the gas delivery pipeline.

Further investigation by The Colonist Report Africa shows that between January 2015 and June 2025, NAOC had a total of 1429 incidents, spilling 18339.20 barrels of crude oil in Bayelsa State, while OANDO recorded 25 incidents, spilling 223.94 barrels of crude oil between 2024 and 2025, according to data from the incident report of the Nigeria Oil Monitor data.

Both NAOC and OANDO did not respond to our email seeking for comment.

Security, Silence, Government and Corporate Neglect

The Ayamasa community in Nigeria’s Niger Delta is grappling with severe environmental degradation and neglect from both state and federal governments, according to community leaders.  

Former Vice Chairman Mr. Benjamin and current Chairman Aleibiri described a landscape ravaged by oil spills, leaving residents facing a multitude of challenges.  

The lack of basic amenities like healthcare, clean water, and electricity is pervasive.  

“We don’t have a good hospital, no doctor here,” Aleibiri stated, highlighting the community’s reliance on the distant Bomadi town general hospital for medical care, Aleibiri added. 

The soil, contaminated by oil spills, renders agriculture unproductive, further exacerbating the community’s hardships.  

Residents report that even their medications are becoming ineffective due to the pervasive pollution.

Their primary source of drinking water, the extension of the River Niger, is also contaminated, impacting the community’s health and well-being. 

While the Nigerian government attempted to provide alternative water sources through pipe-borne water systems, Aleibiri told The Colonist Report Africa that most of these projects remain uncompleted and the completed one has been non-functional, from its completion.

Hence, the community depends on the contaminated river and one functioning pipe-borne water provided by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The Climate and Agriculural  Toll

The economic consequences of environmental damage are devastating.  

“Our agricultural life is no more as it used to be because of the effects of the oil and gas stations,” Aleibiri lamented, describing the widespread damage to crops and the resulting food insecurity.  

The lack of economic opportunities has also contributed to a rise in crime, with many young people turning to oil pipeline vandalism and highway robbery out of desperation. 

Despite the community’s status as a host community to oil and gas operations, the benefits are minimal.  

While a government-contracted security outfit, TANTITA, has provided some employment, the number of Ayamasa residents employed is far below the expected quota for a host community, according local sources. 

Similarly, a small number of “sit-at-home” slots for elderly individuals are provided by the oil company, but these are insufficient to address the widespread poverty and lack of support.  

The community members also alleges that the oil companies are failing to uphold their obligations under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), diverting funds intended for the community towards pipeline repairs.  

“They (oil company) said they use it to repair the pipelines. So after the repairs, nothing is given to us as a host community,” Aleibiri said. 

The impact of the oil spill extends beyond economic hardship, drastically altering the climate and weather patterns.

“We don’t know the difference between dry and rainy seasons anymore,” he noted, describing unpredictable rainfall and persistent flooding that damages crops and further destabilizes the community’s food supply.  

The lack of clean-up efforts, coupled with the persistent flooding, further compounds the already dire situation, leaving residents struggling to survive amidst widespread poverty, environmental damage, and governmental neglect.  

Despite the presence of prominent community members in government, the Ayamasa community continues to be overlooked, highlighting a systemic failure to address the needs of this marginalized community.

When asked if Oando had carried out any community development projects since taking over from Agip in September 2024, Aleibiri said no.

He said, “They only invited us to a meeting. Even the Christmas gifts, they (Oando) gave us nothing. Agip used to give us a cow, bags of rice, groundnut oil, and other things.”

He said that during a meeting with Oando in October 2024, the company merely introduced itself to the community and asked them to itemize their needs and concerns.

“We told them about the problems in our area. We discussed many things at that meeting, and afterward, they said they would call us back, but they haven’t called us again.”

Regarding the effects of oil spills and gas flaring on his farming, he said, “This has terribly affected my farmland. 

“All my plantains died after the oil spilled, flowed through the water, and touched them.

“When the oil spilled during the dry season, all my cassava died because my entire cassava farm was affected. My wife’s cassava farm across the house was also completely destroyed.”

Aleibiri said he doesn’t know the exact amount the oil company should pay the community as the 3% Operating Expenditure (OPEX) to a host community, as stipulated in Section 257(2) of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.

However, he reiterated that while Agip operated the pipeline, the company paid the community N37 million over 2-4 years, claiming it used the remaining funds to repair vandalized pipelines and conduct cleanup exercises.

Asked who or where the N37 million was paid to and its purpose, Aleibiri said, “The money was paid under an agreement.

A female farmer and community resident, Mrs. Gloria Apeikumo, who also spoke about the damage caused by oil spills and gas flaring in the community, lamented that all her farms and fish ponds have been destroyed.

Speaking in Pidgin English, Gloria explained to The Colonist Report Africa that the spill caused widespread hunger, as it destroyed her cassava farms and fish ponds, leaving her family with nothing to eat. 

 “This oil spill has caused serious hunger for my family,” she said.  

She detailed the loss of her crops and fish, leaving her deeply in debt and relying on credit to feed her children.  “I need help,” she pleaded, emphasizing the need for financial assistance to restart her life and business after the environmental catastrophe, and calling on the government and oil companies to provide support. 

The scale of the disaster is evident in her account of the complete destruction of her livelihood and her desperate plea for aid.

Attempts to obtain copies of the letters the community said they sent to the government authorities and oil companies were unsuccessful.

While the new Community Development Chairman, Mr. Jonah Ekokeme, confirmed having copies of the letters, he could not release them despite repeated requests from our reporter.

Struggles of Delta Community Residents

Like Ayamasa Community in Bayelsa State, a visit to Emu Obedeti community in Ndokwa West Local Government Area of Delta State, was another record of lamentation of destruction of farmlands, acute hunger and diseases caused by oil spill and activities of oil companies in the area.

Emu Obedeti is a neighboring community to the Emu Ebendo community which hosts the 12″ MWOG/UPIL Pipeline Facility being operated by Midwestern Oil & Gas Corporation (MWOG). 

The pipeline facility runs through the Emu Obedeti community, making it a co-host/benefiting community.

Emu Obedeti is also a host community to an oil well being operated by Energia Limited, an oil company which the community members said is also operating 12″ MWOG/UPIL Pipeline Facility alongside Midwestern Oil & Gas Corporation and Pillar Oil Limited.

Data from the oil monitor website shows an incident of oil spill in Emu Ebendo on June 23, 2024 following Illegal attachment of 2″ Ball Valve with Galvanize pipe extension mounted at 12 O’ clock position on 12″ MWOG/UPIL Pipeline Facility.

Between July 2016 to October 2024, data from the oil monitor website shows that MWOG had 49 incidents, spilling a total of 335.91 barrels of crude oil in Delta State.

When contacted, Midwestern Oil and Gas (MWOG) told The Colonist Report Africa that the 12-inch crude oil pipeline is operated and managed solely by Umugini Pipeline Infrastructure Limited (UPIL).  “UPIL holds complete operational responsibility, encompassing maintenance and community relations.  Therefore, Midwestern cannot directly address concerns about oil spill data, pipeline incidents, or project implementation,” the company said.  For transparency, MWOG referred our inquiry to UPIL.  Midwestern affirmed its commitment to responsible upstream oil and gas operations, accountability, environmental stewardship, and stakeholder engagement.

Read full statement from the company sent The Colonist Report Africa.

A Tale of Denial 

Based on the NOSDRA’s report, The Colonist Report Africa visited the Emu Ebendo community for on the spot assessment and verification of the incident and its impact on the community and its environs.

However, the Emu Ebendo Community Development Council Chairman, Sunday Enuzo, denied the incident.

Enuzo told The Colonist Report Africa, “There has never been any case of oil spill in this community before or since I became the CDC Chairman about a year ago now.”

When he was confronted with the NOSDRA’s report, Enuzo said, “I am the chairman of the Emu Ebendo community and I don’t know how they got this report but I am telling you that there was never an incident of oil spill.

“And I can tell you that if there is any case of oil spill here, I know the appropriate place to go and what to do. 

“I know the right authorities to go to and get them to do the right thing. I can categorically tell you that there has never been a case of oil spill in the Emu Ebendo community.”

Meanwhile, as Enuzo prevented The Colonist Report Africa from moving around the community to speak with other residents and visit the exact oil spill site, a resident of Emu Obedeti who simply identified himself as Mr. Gilbert told our reporter that he personally witnessed the June 23, 2024, oil spill in the Emu Ebendo community.

“The CDC Chairman is lying”, Gilbert said. I know the day that spill happened. That day, I was going to Emu Ebendo, and I saw a tanker parked along the road where the pipeline was broken and they were pumping the oil into the tanker.

“There were many soldiers there protecting them and I wanted to stop but when I saw the soldiers, I had to quickly drive off because if I had stopped, they would have forced me to stay there until they finished.

“What they do is that if you see them when they are vandalizing the pipeline and moving the crude oil, they will force you to stay with them until they are finished but they would give some money like N30,000; N50,000; N60,000 or more depending on the kind of people involved.

Gilbert alleged that, “Most of the time, before they break the pipeline and move oil, they must have made an arrangement with top community leaders and security agents in the community, and sometimes like the Emu Ebendo case, they can go with soldiers.”

In Emu Obedeti, the immediate neighbouring community to Emu Ebendo, the Secretary of the Community Development Council, Mr. Rudolf Idu, told The Colonist Report Africa that there was no oil spill in Emu Obedeti in 2024, but there was one case of oil spill in November 2023.

“Well, there was no oil spill in Emu Obedeti this year. The one we encountered happened last year during the rainy season, then after that time, around November, the oil companies came for the clean up,” Idu said.

He told The Colonist Report Africa that the Emu Ebendo pipeline facilities run through Emu Obedeti to Arahde and Ilu communities.

On what the oil companies and the state and the federal government have done and are doing for them as an oil producing community, especially as a community that has been affected by oil spill, Idu said the companies have things they do for the community annually, but for the government, “There is nothing coming in.”

He added, “We are not getting anything from the government in respect of oil, nothing is coming in.”

But for the companies, he said, “Like annually, there are projects they do for each community. 

“They liaise with our leaders based on the projects we want from the companies each year.

“What we get from the companies depends on the land space covered by the pipeline which is the money we get from them.

“Our own percentage is different from other communities covered by the pipeline.

“Like this year, they just did something, our town hall, two days ago, the contractor just resumed work. 

“We requested Luvas windows for the town hall, and the company has responded already by mobilising the contractor in charge of the project.

“Like the issue of blackout, what we are getting from the company (referring to Midwestern Oil & Gas Corporation) won’t be enough to fix and restore electricity in the community.

“The company so far is only concentrating on the town hall project. What they were able to do this year(2024) was to fix the windows but still couldn’t complete it.

“We still have about four to five windows unfixed based on the allocation that was coming in.”

Meanwhile,  Gilbert, and one other member of Emu Obedeti Community Development Council, Mr. Nelson Obuwe, lamented over the destruction the November 2023 oil spill caused to the community, told The Colonist Report Africa that no compensation was paid to the affected farmers, including themselves who were affected by the incident.

Obuwe and Gilbert who took The Colonist Report Africa to the oil spill site confirmed that there was a clean up carried out by the oil companies but noted that only members of the community who were engaged for the clean up work were paid for the work they did.

They claimed, “The oil pipelines are owned by different companies, but they are all operating under the canopy of one particular company which is Energia Limited. A claim that The Colonist Report Africa couldn’t verify immediately.

“The farmlands are totally degraded and the effects of the crude oil chemicals are still very much on the land from the physical look,” our sources said.

“We don’t know how long it will take for it to be useful again for farming activities, even the fish pond’s that were within the environment are no longer in existence. 

“Fishes can’t survive in the affected areas again as a result of the oil spillage on the farmlands.”

In response to our request, UPIL told The Colonist Report Africa in a letter forwarded through  MWOG that 99% of oil spills were attributed to sabotage.  The company also stated that it has provided community support through initiatives such as school construction and scholarships,

Read full response from the companies

Promises Made, Never Kept

Idu, Obuwe and Gilbert lamented, “Up till now, we are not benefiting anything from the Energia oil company as an impacted community. 

“We have written to them severally, till now they have refused to recognize us as an impacted community.

“They keep deceiving us with the claim of the oil well in our community that they are coming to start working on the oil well and we will be treated as a host community, and that we should forget about being treated as an impacted community.

“They just abandoned this oil well for no reason and every benefit that is supposed to come to us as a host community or impactful community is not coming to us.

“Even the company does not employ anybody from Emu Obedeti.”

Corroborating Obuwe and Gilbert’s claims, Idu said, “Another challenge the community is facing is that we have an oil well that was being allocated to Energia Limited, which is called Obedeti 1.”

He lamented that the second part of the Oil Well in Emu Ebendo called Obedeti 2, “Is even where we are having problems because if you check their operational sites, it was directed to our community.”

According to him, “It is not up to two kilometers from here but they don’t treat us as if we have anything to do with them.

Even at night, the high impact of atmospheric pressure from lightning is evident. During the rainy season, residents claim that the company’s waste is flushed into floodwaters that reach the river, killing aquatic life, including fish in local ponds.

 “Excessive heat from the company site has disrupted normal nighttime life; the darkness associated with night no longer exists. Children born since the company’s flaring began cannot describe what night looks like,” Idu  said.

Following the 2024 oil spill, residents experienced harmful smells and scabies before the oil companies cleaned up the spill.  The community faces issues stemming from Midwestern oil and gas pipelines and the Energia Limited site, primarily impacting their natural fish ponds. 

According to the community sources, Energia Limited claims to be operating the Obedeti 1 Oil Well and working to improve the community’s situation, but this is not the case. The Obedeti 1 Oil Well, located within the community, is not operational, and the company is accused of misleading the federal government.

The  Obedeti 2 oil well, however, is operational and located approximately 2 kilometers away in the Emu Ebendo community. The activities of Energia Limited at the Emu Ebendo Oil Well have severely depleted fish stocks in the rivers. “The community receives no benefits from the company and is not treated as a host community,” claims community residents.

The Colonist Report Africa was unable to get comment from Energia Limited as the company also operates in a joint venture with Oando  The company did not respond to our email for comment.

Human/Environmental Rights Activist In Rage

Alagoa Morris, Deputy Executive Director of the Environmental Defenders Network (ERA), expressed serious concerns over the conduct of International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in Nigeria, especially regarding their environmental practices and legal obligations. 

He criticized the common practice of not purchasing land for their onshore facilities, instead opting to pay royalties to landowners intermittently. 

“The IOCs didn’t buy the lands where they put their facilities onshore,” he said, adding that royalties are often paid every three or four years, with little transparency or consistency.

Morris highlighted the negligence of companies like Shell and Agip in consulting with landowners during the divestment of assets.

He said communities are often left uninformed about new operators, their responsibilities, or the environmental conditions of the land and infrastructure. 

“We want to know the state of the environment. As you are divesting, what is the state of the environment?” he asked, stressing the importance of environmental audits.

Recalling past disasters such as the 2011 Bonga spill and the 2012 Chevron gas explosion, Morris noted, “Shell did not pay one penny to victims,” emphasizing the long-term damage to fisherfolk and local ecosystems. 

He further said that in 2013, an Agip facility spill was similarly mismanaged, with crude oil sunk using chemicals rather than being properly cleaned up.

He mentioned that communities like Ikarama in Bayelsa State continue to suffer. 

Despite cleanup claims, crude oil still seeps from the ground. “In Ikarama community, young and old people are coming down with cancer,” Morris said, urging proper remediation and compensation. 

He also drew attention to the neglected Oloibiri oilfield, the site of Nigeria’s first commercial oil discovery in 1956. 

Despite Shell removing some equipment, he said no formal decommissioning occurred, leaving residents exposed to environmental risks.

Morris condemned regulatory bodies such as NOSDRA and the environment ministries, accusing them of regulatory capture. 

“The oil companies will have to provide vehicles, boats, and helicopters, and even sometimes provide accommodation,” he explained, arguing this undermines independence and effective enforcement. 

He described regulators as “occult people” for their failure to intervene in major spills.

In response to these issues, Morris said peaceful protests were held in Port Harcourt and Yenagoa to demand accountability. 

“We are agitated,” he said, calling for environmental audits, cleanups, and compensation before further divestments occur. 

He also urged the extension of the Ogoniland cleanup to other polluted areas, especially Bayelsa State.

Highlighting broader impacts, Morris noted, “The lake condemned, swamp condemned,” describing how oil spills destroy ecosystems, livelihoods, and health. 

“Even in the Mangrove forest, sometimes all the mangrove will die as a result of the toxic nature of crude oil.” 

He linked this destruction to declining life expectancy, rare diseases, and cancer. 

“We are about 10% different when you talk about life expectancy,” he added.

Morris decried oil theft, especially at export terminals. 

“The stealing at the export terminal is like using a drum to steal it,” he quoted a naval officer, pointing to widespread complicity among oil firms, security forces, and regulators. 

He urged reform and accountability, “They should do soul-searching and ensure that the bad eggs within them are sacked.”

This investigation was funded by the HEDA Resource Centre and the organisation has also published the Report alongside other of its findings.