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Urgent Action: Protect the Bille residents in the Niger Delta

52 days left to demand change

The residents of the town of Bille, in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, are continuing to face a serious health emergency.

Bille is a coastal community that is located on an island in the mouth of the Niger Delta and is only accessible by boat. Fishing is one of the community’s main industries.

Since October 2025, methane gas has been bubbling up in nearby rivers and swamps and is now affecting a significant amount of the town’s drinking wells. Bille’s school children have been forced to move to another community for safety.

In April, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission visited Bille to launch an investigation into the leaks and has ordered oil companies operating nearby to find a solution.

While this is a positive development, little has been done to identify and stop the leaks - research into methane leaks in other parts of the world have linked them to poorly decommissioned oil and gas wells.

The Government of Nigeria has a duty to protect the residents of Bille from potentially lethal methane leaks, including any which may be caused or contributed to by private actors, such as oil companies.

Write to the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources to demand that they protect the residents of Bille now.

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Target: Rt. Honourable Ekperikpe Ekpo

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Dear Rt. Honourable Ekperikpe Ekpo,

I am writing to urge you to continue to take immediate action to protect the residents of the Bille community in Rivers State, Nigeria, from the methane gas leaks that are still bubbling up through at least 70% of its water wells, as well as rivers and swamps. Since the gas leaks were initially reported by fishermen in October 2025 at a site several kilometres from Bille, they have now spread across the local area including in the town centre of Bille itself. On 1 April, the Governor of Rivers State offered 100 million Naira (approximately 75,000 USD) to the Bille community to cover relief costs including food, safe drinking water, medical supplies and the costs of relocating school children who have been forced to move to another community.

Government agency-led investigations have taken place looking into both into the source of the gas leaks and the health implications for the local community. On 7 April, Nigeria’s federal government, through its agency the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), visited Bille with the representatives of oil companies operating in the area. They conducted further tests and ordered the oil companies to collaborate in finding a solution to the leak. But it is several months since the government first became aware of the situation, and little has been done to identify the leaks or ensure the safety of the community. In December 2025, the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) conducted air quality tests at several sites, which reported methane levels at one site were 10,000 times higher than normal background methane levels.

Following these recent developments, I call on you to use your authority to expedite the NUPRC investigation into the source of the gas leak, publish the results of this investigation and all previous investigations, and to order that immediate action be taken to stop the gas leaks. In addition, I ask you to authorise additional relief payments to be made to the community to cover essential supplies until the methane gas leaks are resolved and clean drinking water is restored.

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