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Reps Order Immediate Solution to Niger-Delta Communities Oil Spill
With fresh technical findings indicating the presence of potentially hazardous gases and pollution in the community’s air, water and sediment, the House of Representatives Committee on South-South Development Commission has ordered urgent intervention to end the prolonged gas seepage in Niger-Delta communities including Bille in Rivers State and Odidi Federated in Delta State.
The committee’s Chairman, Julius Pondi, made the demand on Thursday during an urgent stakeholders’ engagement on the Bille gas seepage and a legislative hearing on the Odidi oil spill in Abuja.
Pondi said the two incidents underscored the environmental and developmental challenges confronting oil-producing communities in the Niger Delta region, where residents continue to bear the consequences of environmental degradation despite the region’s contribution to the national economy.
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The committee’s concern over Bille, he said, was heightened by its engagement with the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission and the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency on July 30, 2026, noting that it was unacceptable that the gas seepage had continued for about nine months without a clear solution.
“The implications are serious. Beyond the potential risks to health, safety and the environment, the incident has imposed severe economic hardship on the people of Bille.
“It is unacceptable for an incident of this magnitude to persist for so long without a clear, time-bound and effective resolution strategy,” he stated.
Pondi said Thursday’s engagement was intended to establish the facts surrounding the incident, assess the response by government agencies and operators, identify outstanding challenges and agree on practical and measurable steps towards resolving the crisis.
He stated that the committee expected comprehensive briefings from the operating company, NUPRC, NOSDRA and other relevant agencies on the cause, extent and current status of the seepage.
The representatives of Bille community were also allowed to present their concerns and outline the relief and interventions required.
“Most importantly, we want to move from prolonged discussion to concrete action and lasting resolution,” Pondi said.
Providing a technical briefing, a director of NOSDRA, Dr Yusuf Rigasa, said the agency had confirmed the presence of multiple gases, including hydrogen sulphide, methane, volatile organic compounds and carbon dioxide, at several locations in Bille, Degema Local Government Area of the state.
Rigasa said investigations established what he described as “multi-point subsurface gas bubbling” in different parts of the community, including the premises of the Government Primary and Secondary School, saying the school had subsequently been abandoned, while gas bubbling was also confirmed around waterways and mangrove areas.
According to him, NOSDRA conducted an air-quality assessment on December 6, 2025, across 19 stations and recorded elevated concentrations of the aforementioned pollutants.
He explained that hydrogen sulphide has a characteristic rotten-egg smell, while methane is highly flammable and potentially explosive, adding that the concentrations recorded during the assessment exceeded applicable regulatory thresholds.
He added that the agency’s reference laboratory analysed samples collected on December 16, 2025, and detected elevated levels of total petroleum hydrocarbons in groundwater, surface water and sediment samples.
The findings, after sample analysis by the agency’s reference laboratory, “indicated that parts of Bille’s soil, surface water and groundwater had been affected by pollution.”
However, Rigasa said NOSDRA had not established that the gases were from a hydrocarbon source or linked to any particular oil and gas operator.
He said the agency’s technical presentation to the Minister of Petroleum Resources indicated that “the source of the seepage was probably biogenic, resulting from the degradation of organic matter.”
The NOSDRA official said the agency had compared the Bille situation with the Lake Nyos gas disaster in Cameroon in 1986, stressing the need for the incident to be treated with utmost seriousness.
President and Chief Executive of Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), Aliko Dangote, has announced plans for the Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF) to collaborate with state governments to empower vulnerable women across Nigeria through participation in the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (DPRP) Initial Public Offering (IPO).
Dangote made the announcement in New York during the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) while responding to a question from the Secretary to the Yobe State Government, Dr. Goje Mohammed.
The discussion focused on how partnerships between government and the private sector can help conflict-affected communities, particularly widows, build sustainable financial futures through investment opportunities.
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According to Dangote, the Foundation will work closely with state governments to ensure that women from vulnerable groups, including widows and victims of conflict, can take advantage of the refinery’s share offering and begin building long-term wealth through equity ownership.
The initiative is designed to expand access to Nigeria’s capital market by giving women who might otherwise be excluded the opportunity to become shareholders in one of Africa’s largest industrial enterprises.
Speaking on the programme, Dangote revealed that the Foundation plans to provide additional support to participating women by donating shares to complement their investments.
“We are partnering with state governments to ensure that widows and other vulnerable women are able to buy shares in the refinery,” he said.
He explained that women who purchase shares under the IPO will receive an additional allotment of shares from the Foundation, helping them establish a long-term financial asset.
“Beyond enabling them to buy shares, the Foundation will also support them by donating additional shares that they can hold as savings for the future,” Dangote noted.
The programme targets up to two million women nationwide, making it one of the largest financial inclusion and women’s empowerment initiatives linked to Nigeria’s capital market.
“We are looking at reaching about two million women through this initiative,” he added.
The proposed intervention forms part of the broader objectives of the Dangote Refinery “People’s IPO,” which seeks to democratise ownership of the landmark refinery and enable more Nigerians to share in the value created by one of the country’s most significant private-sector investments.
The initiative is expected to have particular significance for conflict-affected states such as Yobe, where many widows and vulnerable households continue to face economic challenges resulting from years of insecurity. By facilitating access to investment opportunities, the partnership aims to provide a pathway to sustainable wealth creation and long-term financial security.
Dangote emphasized that collaboration between the Foundation and state governments will create a structured framework for supporting vulnerable women to participate in the IPO, reinforcing the role of investment and equity ownership as tools for economic empowerment, financial inclusion and social development.
Through this initiative, the ownership opportunity presented by the Dangote Refinery IPO will be extended to some of Nigeria’s most vulnerable women, helping them build assets, secure their futures and participate directly in the growth of a landmark national enterprise.
The Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX Group) has expanded access to its NGX Invest platform with the launch of a WhatsApp subscription channel.
Biztellers reports that it provides investors with an additional, convenient way to participate in public offers.
A statement from the company has it that investors can begin the subscription process by sending “Invest” to NGX Invest on WhatsApp at +234 812 731 9521. They can then follow the prompts to view eligible offers and complete the required subscription steps without downloading a separate application. As part of the process, investors will select a stockbroker through whom their application will be processed, ensuring that brokers remain an integral part of the investment journey.
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The new channel extends NGX Invest’s growing distribution ecosystem, which connects issuers to investors through more than 100 distribution channels, including stockbrokers, banks, fintechs, mobile operators and other financial institutions via API connectivity.
By integrating WhatsApp into NGX Invest, the NGX Group is reducing friction in the investment process and bringing primary-market opportunities closer to investors through a platform they already use every day. For issuers, the integration provides an additional route to reach a broader pool of potential investors and support more efficient capital raising.
The development forms part of NGX Group’s broader strategy to use technology, partnerships and open distribution infrastructure to widen participation in Nigeria’s capital market.
Security remains central to the design of the investor journey. While WhatsApp provides the interface through which investors can access the service, subscriptions are processed through NGX Invest’s secure, regulated infrastructure. Investors are encouraged to interact only with the official NGX Invest WhatsApp number and should never share passwords, PINs, OTPs or other sensitive credentials with third parties.
As digital participation in Nigeria’s capital market grows, NGX Group remains focused on ensuring that increased access is supported by secure, transparent and regulated market infrastructure. The addition of WhatsApp combines the convenience of a familiar consumer channel with the safeguards required for participation in regulated public offers.
With WhatsApp now part of its distribution ecosystem, NGX Invest is further expanding the infrastructure through which investors can discover and participate in primary-market opportunities, while enabling issuers to reach a wider investing public.
The $800m Final Investment Decision (FID) on the Ima Gas Project (IGP) has been warmly welcomed as a major milestone in efforts to unlock Nigeria’s gas resources for industrialisation, job creation and economic growth.
President Bola Tinubu applauded the development, according to the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, in a statement in Abuja, on Wednesday.
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The statement has it that the project, developed by Nigerian independent exploration and production company, AMNI International, in partnership with TotalEnergies, is expected to produce about 300 million standard cubic feet of gas per day at peak.
It added that the Ima gas resource, located offshore in Oil Mining Leases 112 and 117, was discovered in 1973 but remained undeveloped for more than five decades.
The FID, announced on Wednesday, is expected to pave the way for the development of the resource, which has the potential to provide feedgas for the Nigeria LNG Limited.
According to the statement, Tinubu said the development demonstrated the impact of creating a predictable and competitive environment for investors.
He stated, “For more than fifty years, the gas beneath Ima remained a resource with enormous potential, but potential alone does not create jobs, finance businesses or improve the lives of our people.
“Our responsibility has been to create the conditions that turn Nigeria’s natural resources into productive investments and economic opportunities.”
The President added, “The Final Investment Decision on Ima demonstrates what is possible when we provide investors with a competitive, predictable and enabling environment.
“We are determined to unlock more of Nigeria’s gas resources to power our industries, expand our exports, create jobs and build lasting prosperity for our people.”
The President said that for decades, Nigeria has had one of Africa’s largest gas resource bases, although significant volumes have remained undeveloped.
He added that this administration’s gas strategy is focused not only on increasing gas production but also on putting the resource to productive use by supporting LNG exports and foreign exchange earnings, providing feedstock for industries, enabling fertiliser and petrochemical production, improving power supply and creating opportunities for Nigerian businesses and workers.
“Natural resources have value only when they are converted into opportunities for our people.
“Our goal is to ensure that Nigeria’s gas powers Nigerian prosperity,” the President said.
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