…CAPPA blames govt inaction, demands evacuation, suspension of oil activities Barely two weeks after raising the alarm over worsening gas bubbling and seepage in Bille, Rivers State, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has reported another gas explosion in the already distressed island community, with a woman severely burned in the latest incident. According... The post Two Weeks After Warning, Gas Explosion Rocks Bille Again appeared first on New Telegraph .
…CAPPA blames govt inaction, demands evacuation, suspension of oil activities
Barely two weeks after raising the alarm over worsening gas bubbling and seepage in Bille, Rivers State, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has reported another gas explosion in the already distressed island community, with a woman severely burned in the latest incident.
According to CAPPA, the explosion occurred at about 8 a.m. on Thursday, September 3, at No. 18, Opu Ibiila Community, Bille, Degema Local Government Area, setting part of a house ablaze and blowing out its windows.
The occupant, Joy Amos, was said to have sustained extensive burns which, according to CAPPA, require urgent specialist medical attention.
Recall that CAPPA presented its documentary and report, Danger! Bille Is Highly Flammable, about two weeks ago, in which it warned the Federal and Rivers State governments that the community was facing a potentially catastrophic gas emergency.
During a July 6 visit, the organisation said it documented gas emissions from wells, boreholes, residential compounds, waterways and school grounds.
But with the latest explosion, CAPPA said the danger could no longer be treated as isolated incidents requiring only official visits and sample collection.
Amos, an Ogoni native, reportedly told the organisation that she had repeatedly heard bubbling sounds beneath the floor of her apartment at night.
She said: “I was in my room on the bed, using my phone, when I heard ‘poof!’ My windows shattered, and fire surrounded me. I grabbed my phone and power bank, the only things I remembered to take and ran out of the room naked. I dropped them in front of my bathroom, ran outside and began to call for help.”
The Vice President of the Bille Kingdom Youth Federation, Timothy Agunbiade, who arrived at the scene shortly after the explosion, confirmed what Amos had said.
“I asked her what the cause could be. She said she had been hearing bubbling sounds in her room at night whenever she lay down and everywhere else was quiet. She had complained to one or two people but had not informed her landlady.
“She rented the house and is not from Bille. She is an Ogoni woman, and we have not been able to reach any of her relatives. From our observation, the blast happened from inside out.”
Agunbiade further said the floor of Amos’s room had been generating heat before the explosion and appeared to be under pressure from beneath.
Reacting to the development, CAPPA’s Assistant Executive Director, Zikora Ibeh, described the situation as an escalating emergency and accused authorities of failing to adequately protect residents despite previous warnings.
“Bille exposes the inhuman bargain at the heart of reckless extraction in the Niger Delta. Wealth is taken from communities and transferred to corporations and the state, while residents are left with polluted water, damaged livelihoods, illness and danger. Companies continue to earn from extraction, yet the people living closest to oil and gas infrastructure are expected to bear its gravest risks.
“No industry should be permitted to transfer the human and environmental costs of its operations onto communities. Whatever the investigation ultimately establishes as the source of these emissions, the failure to protect Bille after months of warnings is indefensible.”
CAPPA consequently demanded the immediate suspension of all oil and gas activities in and around Bille until the source of the emissions is established and independent experts certify the community safe.
It also called for emergency-response teams, evacuation of residents to safe temporary accommodation, continuous air and water-quality monitoring and clear public guidance on the risks.
The organisation urged the Rivers State Government, NOSDRA, NUPRC, NMDPRA, Federal Ministry of Environment, Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources and other relevant authorities to conduct a transparent, coordinated investigation into the crisis.
The investigation, it said, must cover active, ageing, idle and abandoned infrastructure, including wells, wellheads, pipelines and production facilities, with unsafe facilities resolved, isolated or decommissioned without delay.
CAPPA also demanded publication of test results and findings, alongside free specialist medical care, emergency clinics, ambulance services and rehabilitation for affected residents.
“The authorities were warned. A woman has now been severely burned, while the people of Bille remain exposed to potentially dangerous gases. Government must move residents out of harm’s way, provide urgent medical care, identify and stop the source of the emissions, and account publicly for its response.
“The wealth extracted from the Niger Delta cannot continue to enrich corporations and public coffers while host communities are left to breathe contaminated air, drink unsafe water and fear explosions in their homes. The people of Bille have carried this burden long enough. Government cannot wait for deaths before acting,” Ibeh added.
