Fresh Oil Spill Hits Rivers State as Communities Cry Out for Accountability

Barely two weeks after the oil spill that ravaged Ogale community in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State, another devastating environmental incident has struck—this time in Ikata community, Ahoada-East Local Government Area.

The fresh spill, which occurred in the early hours of Monday, has been traced to a 14-inch pipeline operated by Renaissance Africa Energy Company Ltd., an indigenous oil company that recently acquired Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria’s onshore assets in a $2.4 billion divestment deal.

The incident was confirmed by the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria) in a statement issued from Port Harcourt and signed by the organization’s Executive Director, Dr. Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface.

According to the group, the spill was first reported by members of its One Million Youth Volunteers Network of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters in the Niger Delta, as well as field monitors from its Crude Oil Spill Alert System (COSAS).

YEAC stated that the spill was likely caused by third-party interference. Volunteers who visited the site reported that the ground had been excavated and the pipeline deliberately vandalized along the Okordia-Rumuekpe right of way—resulting in crude oil gushing into the environment and severely impacting surrounding ecosystems.

“This fresh spill is another blow to a region already reeling from decades of environmental degradation,” Dr. Fyneface noted.

The organization is now urging the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) to conduct a Joint Investigative Visit (JIV) to determine the exact cause of the spill and invoke relevant provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), 2021, to hold the perpetrators accountable.

Communities in Rivers State continue to face the brunt of oil-related disasters, and civil society groups are intensifying calls for greater transparency, faster response times, and more robust enforcement of environmental regulations.

As oil spills become disturbingly routine in the Niger Delta, environmental advocates are once again asking: When will justice catch up with pollution?