By Adedapo Adesanya

The Governor of Rivers State, Mr Siminalayi Fubara, has pledged immediate intervention to address the prolonged gas leak and worsening environmental pollution in Bille.

His response came after residents and civil society groups staged a peaceful protest at the Government House in Port Harcourt on Monday.

The demonstrators, led by the Pilex Centre for Civic Education Initiative (PCCEI) and the Lekeh Development Foundation (LDF), urged the Rivers State Government to act decisively over what they described as a growing environmental and public health emergency affecting Bille and other oil-producing communities in the Niger Delta.

Represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communications, Mr Honour Sirawoo, the governor assured the protesters that their concerns would receive urgent attention, stressing that the environmental degradation and its impact on residents’ livelihoods could not be ignored.

On behalf of the governor, he praised the protesters for choosing dialogue over violence despite the hardship caused by the pollution, noting that the inability of residents to access clean water, fish or carry out other legitimate economic activities demanded an immediate government response.

He reaffirmed that protecting lives, property, and the environment remains a core responsibility of his administration, adding that fishing and farming, the main sources of income for many coastal communities, depend on a healthy ecosystem.

According to him, the state government will not allow the matter to be overlooked.

Speaking on behalf of the protesters, Mr Courage Nsirimovu, Coordinator of the PCCEI, said the gas leak has triggered a severe ecological and health crisis in Bille.

He added that nearby communities, including Rukpokwu, Ebubu and Elelenwo, are also experiencing environmental challenges linked to pollution.

The group called for the immediate relocation of residents from the affected areas pending remediation efforts and demanded greater transparency in the management of environmental remediation funds provided under the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act.

The environmental crisis in Bille has continued to worsen since late 2025, when residents first reported persistent gas seepage from rivers, creeks, mangrove forests, boreholes and abandoned water facilities.

The seepage, often accompanied by a strong sulphur-like odour, has since spread across several parts of the community, with local leaders reporting dozens of emission points, some of which have allegedly caught fire, raising fears over the combustible nature of the escaping gas.

The incident has severely disrupted fishing activities, polluted water sources, damaged mangrove ecosystems and reduced aquatic life, leaving many residents without their primary means of livelihood.

Earlier this year, the federal government directed the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) to investigate the incident.

Preliminary assessments suggested the seepage could be linked to underground geological processes, although detailed geotechnical studies are still ongoing to determine the exact cause and recommend permanent solutions.

Human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, have also continued to press both regulators and oil operators to accelerate investigations and implement urgent measures to protect affected communities.

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

About 3,000 widows in Ogun State have been empowered with cash grants and business tools by the wife of the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Mrs Temitope Adeola.

Her husband, Mr Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, is currently the Senator representing Ogun West Senatorial District at the National Assembly.

He was picked as the consensus candidate of the ruling APC for the 2027 gubernatorial election.

Mrs Adeola is the founder of Chadash Empowerment Foundation, and to commemorate 2026 International Widows’ Day, she gave out the items through the organisation’s annual Widows’ Empowerment Programme, which birthed in 2021, as part of efforts to promote economic independence.

The empowerment programme, held at the Ake Palace Amphitheatre in Abeokuta, Ogun State, brought together widows from across the state for a day of capacity building, entrepreneurship support and social inclusion.

As part of the initiative, widows who completed the foundation’s vocational training programme received business tools to help them establish or expand their enterprises. The tools distributed included sewing machines, grinding machines, hair dryers, makeup kits, deep freezers, and gas cookers. In addition, 2,000 widows received cash grants of N50,000 each to strengthen existing businesses, improve household income and enhance their economic resilience.

Mrs Adeola said the initiative reflects the organisation’s unwavering commitment to empowering widows through sustainable economic opportunities rather than one-time interventions.

According to her, empowering widows extends far beyond financial assistance, as providing practical skills, vocational tools and start-up capital equips them to build sustainable livelihoods, regain their confidence and become financially self-reliant.

“Seeing more than 3,000 widows gathered here today with renewed hope and confidence reminds us why we remain committed to restoring dignity, creating opportunities, and empowering vulnerable women to achieve financial independence.

“At the Chadash Empowerment Foundation, empowerment goes beyond giving; it is about equipping people with the skills, resources, and confidence to build sustainable livelihoods that will positively impact their families and communities,” the politician’s wife stated.

She urged beneficiaries to make productive use of the support provided by investing in viable businesses that generate sustainable income and improve their families’ welfare.

“The heartfelt testimonies we continue to receive from our beneficiaries reaffirm our mission. Their stories of renewed hope, restored confidence, and brighter futures inspire us to do even more. Together, we are transforming grief into growth, despair into hope, and challenges into opportunities,” Mrs Adeola stated.

Since its inception, the Chadash Empowerment Foundation has impacted more than 15,000 widows across Ogun State and the Federal Capital Territory through vocational training, entrepreneurship support, cash grants, and sustainable livelihood initiatives.

By Adedapo Adesanya

The federal government will seek reparations from South Africa for Nigerians compelled to leave behind businesses and other assets as they voluntarily return home ahead of planned anti-immigrant protests.

Acting Nigerian High Commissioner to South Africa, Mr Alexander Ajayi, disclosed the plan on Tuesday during an appearance on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, as another batch of evacuees was expected to arrive in Lagos under the government’s voluntary evacuation programme.

Mr Ajayi said the Nigerian government had instructed returnees to comprehensively document all businesses, vehicles, shops and other movable and immovable properties they were leaving behind to facilitate formal engagement with the South African authorities.

“I have asked them before they left yesterday to document very accurately those things they were leaving behind in terms of businesses, in terms of even cars, movable and immovable properties. We can now take it up with the South African government. That is the next step we are going to take.

“So, this repatriation will not end with just taking people to Nigeria. We are going to systematically follow up on the information given to us, and I told them to be very accurate with what they are going to give because we are going to work with the South African government to get to the exact locations of all these businesses, shops and properties and present them to the South African government for possible compensation because we will not allow the labour people have suffered to build over the years to just go down the drain or be taken over by people,” Mr Ajayi said.

According to him, Nigerian officials had already initiated discussions with South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Finance on the matter and would systematically verify the information provided by returnees before presenting claims for possible compensation.

He stressed that the evacuation exercise would not end with bringing Nigerians home, adding that the government was determined to ensure that years of investment and hard work by its citizens were not lost without redress.

The envoy also rejected claims that most Nigerians living in South Africa were undocumented, arguing that many entered the country legally but became victims of prolonged delays in the renewal of immigration documents due to administrative backlogs at the country’s Home Office.

He explained that the delays affected many foreign nationals, not only Nigerians, making it inaccurate to classify them as undocumented migrants.

Meanwhile, an Air Peace aircraft departed Nigeria on Monday to evacuate another group of Nigerians who voluntarily opted to return ahead of demonstrations planned by anti-immigration groups from June 30.

The federal government has continued its voluntary evacuation programme for Nigerians willing to leave South Africa as tensions over anti-immigrant protests persist.