By Obiabin Onukwugha
Last week, oil-rich Odidi community, located in Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State, lamented that an oil spill has wreaked havoc on their community, polluted their waters, while their crops die.
The pollution arose from an oil spill which was reported on September 8, 2025 from the Trans Forcados Pipeline operated by Heritage Energy Operational Service Limited (HEOSL).
It was gathered that a Joint Investigations Visit (JIV) revealed that the spill was caused by an equipment failure from the corroded 54-year-old pipeline infrastructure.
Originally commissioned by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in 1971, the Trans Forcados Pipeline is now far beyond its intended operational lifespan, it was gathered.
The community have urgently appealed to Heritage Petroleum Company, as well as federal and state governments, for immediate provision of relief materials.
In a statement issued last Thursday in Warri by the chairman of Odidi community, Preye Okrikpa, the people expressed deep concern over the devastating impact of the spill, which they said has contaminated local water sources and disrupted the livelihoods of residents who rely on fishing and farming. The statement highlighted the urgent need for food, clean water, and other basic necessities to support the affected families after the spill was reported on September 8, 2025.
“The oil spill has wreaked havoc on our community. Our waters are polluted, our crops are dying, and we are left with little to sustain ourselves. We are calling on Heritage Petroleum, as well as the federal and state governments, to provide us with immediate assistance to help us through this crisis,” Okrikpa lamented.
The community chairman added that the spill has led to a major environmental and humanitarian disaster, with farmlands, swamps, and waterways submerged in crude oil. “We are calling for urgent relief material to cushion starvation in Odidi community,” Okrikpa stated.
The situation in Odidi serves as a stark reminder of the ongoing challenges faced by communities living in oil-producing regions, where environmental degradation often accompanies resource extraction.
Host communities situation seem worsen after the Nigerian government failed to mandate multinationals to decommission their old assets and properly remediate the Niger Delta before divestment.
Last week, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), announced that it has secured over $400million, an equivalent of ₦603.4billion, in pre-sale decommissioning and abandonment liabilities in the divestment processes by oil multinationals.
According to the NUPRC, since April 2023, the commission has approved 94 Decommissioning and Abandonment (D&A) plans, in line with the PIA. “These represent liabilities of $4.424 billion, which will be remitted progressively over the life of the respective oil fields into designated escrow accounts,” said NURPC Chief Executive, Gbenga Komolafe.
Komolafe mentioned that the Commission’s approach was hinged on lessons from the North Sea, where decommissioning costs are projected to hit £27 billion by 2032; the Gulf of Mexico with costs exceeding $9 billion; and Canada’s Alberta province with more than 97,000 inactive wells carrying liabilities estimated between C$30 billion and C$70 billion.
But these billions as mentioned by the NUPRC, are yet to translate to concrete action, neither has the lessons learnt as mentioned by the NURPC translated to concrete action to stop daily oil spills across the Niger Delta communities.
On daily basis stories of oil spill rend the air with operators showing lackadaisical interest on the plights of residents of the affected communities, From Rivers State, to Delta and to Bayelsa State, the story is the same.
Public Relations Officer of Ododo community, Alagoua Innocent, said the leak was detected and reported to Heritage Energy immediately, but the company allegedly delayed its response. “We sent them messages, we called their emergency lines”, Innocent said, providing a video and photographs that depict a scene of profound devastation.
