Okrika Deaths: Bassey Warns Niger Delta Faces Deepening Toxic Environmental Crisis

Environmental activist and President of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Nnimmo Bassey, has warned that the reported death of at least 37 people at Okrika in Rivers State has exposed the deepening environmental and public health crisis confronting communities across the Niger Delta.

Bassey, in a statement, said the incident should serve as an urgent wake-up call to the Federal Government, oil companies and regulatory agencies over decades of hydrocarbon pollution, gas emissions and deteriorating oil infrastructure in the region.

At least 37 people reportedly died at the Okari Jetty in Okrika in the early hours of Thursday after allegedly inhaling toxic fumes while attempting to siphon petroleum products from an illegally tapped pipeline. Several others were reportedly missing.

The incident has been confirmed by the Rivers State Police Command, although the police have not released an official death toll and said investigations were ongoing. Other reports have also put the possible number of fatalities higher than 37.

According to Bassey, the victims were reportedly involved in illegal siphoning of a petroleum product locally referred to as “Indorama fuel” from a pipeline operated by Indorama Eleme Petrochemical Company.

He said the exact cause of the deaths should be established through an independent investigation, noting that the victims could have died from inhaling noxious gases released under pressure, asphyxiation or drowning after losing consciousness and falling into the river.

The Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria), which also reported the incident, said more than 100 people had reportedly arrived at the area in boats to collect petroleum products from an illegally tapped point. Some victims reportedly collapsed after being overcome by fumes, while others fell into the river.

Bassey said the tragedy should not be allowed to become another statistic in the long history of environmental disasters in the Niger Delta.

“Then silence. And the dead will become dead statistics,” he warned, arguing that the silence surrounding environmental degradation in the region was itself part of the problem.

The environmentalist drew parallels between the Okrika deaths and the continuing gas emergency in Bille, also in Rivers State, where methane and other gases have reportedly been bubbling from rivers, swamps and wells.

Reports indicate that residents of Bille began observing bubbling water accompanied by a sulphurous smell in October 2025, with the phenomenon subsequently spreading to other locations in the community.

A later assessment by the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) reportedly detected methane, volatile organic compounds and hydrogen sulphide in ambient air around affected areas. Methane concentrations were also reported to have reached levels posing significant fire and explosion risks.

Bassey criticised what he described as inadequate government responses to the Bille emergency, arguing that relief materials, fire extinguishers and the provision of a fire truck were insufficient in the face of the potential risks.

He said residents, particularly children and elderly people, had been experiencing health problems which, in his view, suggested that the consequences of the gas emissions extended beyond the immediate risk of fire.

should therefore be treated not merely as another case of illegal oil theft, but as a warning about the broader environmental and human consequences of Nigeria’s decades-old petroleum industry.

“How many more tragedies before we know it is time to clean up the Niger Delta, quench the roaring flames, dismantle and remove decrepit facilities and secure all pipelines by replacing and burying them in the ground?” he asked.

He added: “Our lives are worth more than crude oil.”