Eight-Year Oil Spill: Aja-Olokpudu Women, Youths Protest, Demand Cleanup, Compensation
Women and youths of Aja-Olokpudu Community in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State on Thursday staged a peaceful protest over a crude oil spill from Oil Mining Lease (OML) 150, which residents said has continued unabated since 2018.
The affected facilities are operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and Conoil Producing Limited joint venture.
The protesters said repeated complaints to the oil operators and regulatory authorities had failed to bring a permanent solution to the environmental crisis, which they said had devastated farmlands and fishing grounds and threatened the livelihoods of residents.
According to the community, the latest petition was submitted to the National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) through their counsel on July 30, 2026, but the leak has yet to be permanently contained.
Residents said they have been forced to improvise by using logs of wood to block the leaking facility as a temporary measure, describing the situation as unacceptable after eight years of continuous pollution.
Speaking with journalists during the protest, Chairman of the Aja-Olokpudu Community Trust, Otos Omeyeremi, said the community was exhausted from years of writing letters and petitions without a lasting solution.
Omeyeremi called on the operators to immediately deploy a competent technical team to permanently stop the leak, clean up the polluted environment and restore the livelihoods of residents affected by the spill.
He said the continued pollution had inflicted severe hardship on the people, particularly farmers and fishermen who depend largely on the environment for their survival.
The community appealed to the Federal Government, Delta State Government, Chairman of Warri South Local Government Area and the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse III, to intervene and compel the operators to take urgent action.
The protesters maintained that the situation could no longer be treated as a routine complaint, insisting that the prolonged spill required immediate remediation and restoration.
The development adds to the growing concerns over the persistence of oil pollution in the Niger Delta, where affected communities have repeatedly complained about environmental degradation, loss of livelihoods and delays in remediation.
For Aja-Olokpudu residents, the demand is straightforward: stop the leak, clean up the polluted environment and restore the livelihoods that have been lost to eight years of oil contamination.
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