Amnesty International has called on the Nigerian government to urgently investigate a series of suspected gas leaks in the Bille community in Rivers State, warning that the emissions pose a serious threat to the health and safety of residents.
In a statement issued on Monday, the human rights organisation said methane believed to be escaping into water and air in the coastal settlement had begun contaminating drinking sources and disrupting daily life in the oil-producing Niger Delta.
According to Amnesty, fishermen in Bille first noticed unusual bubbling in October 2025 while working in a mangrove swamp and nearby river several kilometres from the town. The bubbling was accompanied by a strong sulphurous smell.
Within days, similar incidents were reported at multiple locations, including inside the community itself. Some residents said they discovered that air around the bubbling sites could be ignited, indicating the presence of flammable gas.
The country director of Amnesty International Nigeria, Isa Sanusi, described the reports as deeply troubling and warned that the affected area appeared to be expanding.
“The alarming number of reports of gas leaks across the Bille community is harrowing, and the affected area appears to be expanding,” Sanusi said.
He added that the leaks had already begun to affect residents’ access to clean water and disrupt activities in the community.
“The leaks are already contaminating the town’s drinking water, while some children at a local school have had to relocate after falling ill and experiencing vomiting,” he said.
Sanusi argued that the Nigerian government had both a legal and moral duty to protect residents from environmental harm and potential human rights violations.
“The government must immediately identify the source of the leak and stop it, or take other measures to secure the community from a potentially catastrophic incident,” he said.
The suspected leak sites are located close to several oil and gas installations in the Niger Delta, including pipelines and wells previously operated by Shell plc before the company divested from its onshore operations in Nigeria in 2025.
The precise source of the methane emissions, however, remains unknown and investigations into the incident are ongoing.
In December 2025, officials of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency conducted air-quality tests across the affected area.
According to Amnesty, methane levels recorded at one site were about 10,000 times higher than normal background levels.
Community leaders say the findings underline the scale of the danger confronting residents.
The chairman of the Bille Council of Chiefs, Bennett Okpoki, said the situation had created widespread anxiety among locals.
“Everyone in Bille is affected by the methane leak, and something needs to be done urgently to save the lives of the residents,” Okpoki said.
He said that despite the alarming air-quality results, authorities had yet to take decisive action to address the situation.
“The tests have revealed that there is a high level of methane, and until now, the Nigerian government has not done anything to remedy this situation,” he said, adding that the delay suggested insufficient attention to the safety of residents.
“We want the international community to step in and at least tell the government to do something about it.”
Amnesty also urged oil and gas companies operating in the region to cooperate fully with investigators and determine whether their infrastructure could be contributing to the leak.
Sanusi said that although it remained unclear whether the emissions were linked to oil industry facilities, companies in the area must examine both current and former infrastructure.
“While it remains unknown whether oil and gas infrastructure has caused the methane leak, all oil and gas companies in the region must determine whether their current or former infrastructure could be contributing to the issue and fully cooperate with any investigation by Nigerian authorities,” he said.
He added that companies could not evade responsibility for environmental damage simply because facilities had been sold or abandoned.
“The choice to divest from or abandon certain infrastructure does not absolve any company from the responsibility to clean up and remedy any harm it may have caused,” Sanusi said.
Amnesty said it contacted Shell plc before publishing its statement to seek the company’s response. According to the organisation, Shell said it no longer owns or operates onshore oil and gas infrastructure in the Niger Delta following the sale of its Nigerian subsidiary in 2025.
The group also said it had written to ministers of state for petroleum resources to ask what steps the government planned to take to protect residents in Bille but had received no response by the time of publication.
Similarly, the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency declined to disclose details of its air-quality findings, saying the results would be released only after investigations are completed.
Amnesty noted that it has supported residents of Bille and the neighbouring Niger Delta community of Ogale for more than a decade following environmental damage linked to numerous oil spills associated with Shell’s operations.
The organisation says the pollution devastated the local environment, destroying fish populations, contaminating water sources and undermining the livelihoods of residents.
Both communities later filed a lawsuit in the United Kingdom against Shell plc over the alleged environmental damage. In 2021, the UK Supreme Court ruled that the oil major could potentially be held liable for pollution linked to its Nigerian subsidiary, allowing the case to proceed to trial.
The full trial is expected to begin in 2027.
Amnesty said the emerging methane leak crisis in Bille highlights the urgent need for stronger environmental oversight and corporate accountability in Nigeria’s oil-producing communities.
