A gas pipeline explosion in Aleto community, Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State, burned down more than 50 houses and injured about 20 people on Thursday, according to Vanguard News. The blast occurred around 5pm and is alleged to have come from a ruptured pipeline belonging to the Nigeria Gas Company along Old Bori Road in Aleto.
Vanguard News reports that cars were also destroyed in the incident and that casualties were rushed to hospital. Residents said the pipeline had been leaking for roughly three weeks before it caught fire.
Why it matters
The explosion raises questions about how warnings of a gas leak were handled in the weeks before the blast. A community leader and a local resident both told Vanguard News that the leak had been reported to the company and to regulators, yet the problem was not resolved before Thursday's fire.
The incident also points to the wider risk posed by pipelines running close to homes in Rivers State, where residents say they were left to keep their distance from a leaking facility while waiting for action. More than 50 households lost their homes in a single afternoon.
Warnings said to have gone unanswered
A resident of the area, who gave his name as Emmanuel, told Vanguard News that the pipeline had been leaking for about three weeks before the explosion. He said community leaders had informed the company about the leak, but that the company did not respond positively.
Daniel Chuma, leader of the Eleme Legislative Council, said he wrote to the company about the leak and later filed a petition with relevant authorities, but that nothing concrete was done to stop the gas from escaping. Chuma visited the scene after the blast.
He told Vanguard News that the leakage was on another section of the Nigeria Gas Company's pipeline. He said the community wrote to the company and petitioned the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) and the Rivers State Ministry of Environment, with a copy sent to the Police, asking for urgent intervention. The community also requested a joint investigation, according to Chuma.
"We don't know what they did before they left," he said, describing the sequence of events before Thursday's explosion. He said the same pipeline destroyed over 50 houses and cars, and that many people were taken to hospital.
Chuma also described how people fled when the incident began. He said the few who returned were asked to stay far away to avoid a second incident.
Regulator urged to identify operator and investigate
Dr Fyneface Dumnamene, Executive Director of the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre, known as YEAC-Nigeria, confirmed the development in a statement cited by Vanguard News. He called on the Rivers State government, the Ministry of Environment, NOSDRA, the Federal Government and all bodies involved in checking oil spills and explosions to come to the aid of the people of Aleto, describing the incident as serious.
Fyneface said that as of the time of the statement, YEAC-Nigeria had not independently confirmed any fatalities. He said volunteers from the centre who went to the scene to verify the situation confirmed that officials of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps were present. He added that the cause of the incident had not been independently verified.
The advocacy centre asked NOSDRA to identify the facility operator and carry out a Joint Investigation Visit to the site, and to apply the relevant provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021 where appropriate.
What to watch
Attention now turns to whether NOSDRA identifies the operator and conducts the requested joint investigation, and whether the agencies petitioned by the community act on the accounts of a leak that residents say went unaddressed for weeks.
