The National Assembly has called on the Federal Government and the Rivers State Government to declare Bille Kingdom in Degema Local Council Area of Rivers State an emergency zone following persistent gas leaks and reported environmental degradation in the community.

The National Assembly also urged the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs to establish medical camps, distribute relief materials and develop evacuation plans for residents in high-risk areas of Bille Kingdom.

The lawmakers made the call yesterday in Port Harcourt at the 2026 National Extractives Dialogue (NED), organised by Spaces for Change (S4C), with the theme “Remediation Before Divestment and Energy Transition: Amplifying the Bille Environmental Crisis.”

The dialogue examined persistent gas leaks and their reported effects on waterways, residential areas, drinking wells, and the livelihoods of Bille Kingdom residents.

Speaking at the event, the member representing Khana/Gokana Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives and Chairman of the House Committee on Host Communities, Dumnamene Dekor, said the scale of the crisis required urgent government intervention.

Dekor called on the Federal Government and the Rivers State Government to formally declare Bille a disaster zone, arguing that such a declaration would facilitate access to emergency funding and resources.

He also called for immediate humanitarian measures to protect residents in areas considered high risk.

“Let me call on the Federal Government and the Rivers State government to formally declare Bille a disaster zone to unlock emergency funding and resources,” he said.

“NEMA and the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs should establish immediate medical camps, distribute relief materials, and prepare viable evacuation plans for the high-risk parts of the town.

“If it were in other climes, everybody in Bille would have been moved out. I wish to use this opportunity to urge all community leaders, civil society organisations like Spaces for Change and their partners, regulatory bodies, and industry stakeholders to join hands.”

The lawmaker further urged the Rivers State Government to intensify its intervention, stressing that the state had a responsibility to protect residents affected by the environmental crisis.

Meanwhile, the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) have called for the identification, disclosure and remediation of environmental liabilities before oil and gas assets are divested or transferred to new operators.

Representing the Director-General of NOSDRA, Chukwuemeka Woke, the agency’s Director of ICT/GIS, Dr Yusuf Rigasa, said NOSDRA had conducted several technical investigations into the situation in Bille in collaboration with relevant government agencies.

He assured the community that the agency remained committed to transparently sharing the findings of its investigations and ensuring that appropriate remediation measures followed.

Rigasa said environmental responsibilities should not disappear merely because ownership of an oil asset changes.

Also speaking, the Executive Secretary of NEITI, Musa Sarkin Adar, represented by the Director, Energy and Mining, Sa’ad Balarabe, said the dialogue was taking place at a time when the ownership structure of Nigeria’s onshore and shallow-water petroleum assets had undergone significant changes.

Adar said that while investors had the right to enter or exit markets, environmental liabilities attached to the assets must be addressed before ownership changed.

He warned that environmental liabilities could otherwise be transferred from well-capitalised international operators to successor companies with different financial and technical capacities, ultimately leaving host communities and the Nigerian government to bear the consequences. (The Guardian)