Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara has assured residents of Bille Community in Degema Local Government Area that more decisive action will be taken in the coming weeks to address the gas leak affecting the area.
Fubara gave the assurance after a closed-door meeting at the Government House in Port Harcourt with the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpo Ekpo, operators of oil and gas facilities, and leaders of the Bille community.
The governor said the Rivers State Government had earlier visited the community alongside relevant stakeholders to assess the situation.
According to him, the meeting enabled all parties to jointly examine the cause of the gas leak and agree on practical measures to resolve the problem.
He described the discussions as successful and expressed confidence that the resolutions reached would lead to concrete action in the coming weeks.
“What we are doing today is an enlarged meeting where all the parties are sitting together to look at the cause of the issue and the best possible way to get this problem resolved. I can say that it was a very successful meeting because you can see that the Bille community, ably represented by their chiefs, are all smiling, which means the outcome of the meeting was a good one,” he said.
Also speaking, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpo Ekpo, said the Federal Government had acted promptly by directing the relevant regulatory agency to investigate the cause of the gas leak.
He explained that the investigation became necessary because there are no government-owned oil and gas facilities within the immediate vicinity of the incident.
“When we heard the news, the regulator took charge immediately and deployed experts into the area to study the cause of the seepage. Realising the fact that we don’t have gas or oil infrastructure within the vicinity of the incident, there was need to carry out the investigation. Investigation is still going on,” he said.
Ekpo said his visit was intended to complement the earlier assessment by the Rivers State Government and engage directly with members of the affected community.
He stressed that the safety of residents remains the government’s top priority and acknowledged the risks the gas leak poses to lives and the environment.
The minister urged the community to continue cooperating with the authorities to ensure a lasting solution.
“We are here as a delegation from the Federal Government with the permission of Mr. President to find out what exactly is going on. This is a follow-up visit after the Governor’s visit to talk to the people of Bille community because we need collaboration on their own part so that we’ll be able to arrive at a lasting solution,” Ekpo said.
He assured residents that the Federal Government remains committed to addressing the situation and will give due consideration to the requests presented by community leaders during the meeting.