Ogoniland continues to suffer from decades of oil spills from abandoned infrastructures, including recent incidents in B-Dere (May 2025), Kpean (August 2025) as well as Eteo- Eleme (June 2023) which have destroyed farmlands, contaminated water, and displaced residents. Following the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP )2011 Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland, which documented severe environmental and public health risks, the Federal Government of Nigeria initiated a cleanup process through the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) in 2012, with implementation formally commencing in 2016. Nearly a decade later, cleanup has progressed at a slow and uneven pace, constrained by institutional challenges, extreme pollution, with limited tangible improvement in community conditions. This prolonged delay has raised serious questions about the state’s commitment to environmental restoration. A decade since the formal commencement of the Ogoni clean up process, Nigerians are disturbed that the process for the wider clean up of the heavily contaminated Niger Delta region is yet to commence. Against this backdrop of unresolved pollution and delayed remediation, the Federal Government’s indication of plans to resume oil extraction in Ogoniland is deeply illogical. International Oil Companies (IOCs) remain complicit in historical pollution, abandonment of oil infrastructure, lack of decommissioning, discredited divestment schemes and continued undue influence over extractive policy decisions. This report examines the recent spills in B-Dere and Kpean (2025) as well as the spill that occurred in Eteo-Eleme in June 2023, as evidence of systemic environmental governance failure and reinforces the position that oil operations must not resume in Ogoniland until meaningful cleanup is achieved, aging infrastructure is decommissioned, affected communities are compensated, and the protection of lives, livelihoods, and ecosystems restoration is prioritized—both for Ogoniland and the wider Niger Delta.
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