Niger Delta communities battle farming crisis amid Shell’s departure

Reporting by Gas Outlook Africa Correspondent Samuel Ajala along with Paul Tullis, Marcello Rossi and Abdulwaheed Sofiullahi.

This is the second installment of a two-part Long Read. The first part is here.

(Rivers State, Nigeria) — Gladys Osaro has farmed on her family’s ancestral land in Oghale, a community in the Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State, Niger Delta, for over two decades and vividly remembers reaping bountiful harvests of pumpkins, corn, and cassava. Back then, pulling up just a handful of stems of the plant would yield enough to fill three or four bags, she reminisces.

But everything changed when oil spills began polluting her farmland. She now has to clear an entire acre to harvest just four bags of cassava. To make matters worse, the lingering spills have attracted swarms of ants that devour her crops, leaving her with meagre yields.

“You plant pumpkins, and as they grow, the ants eat them all,” explained Osaro, now 45. “You have to use chemicals like fertilisers and other treatments just to be able to harvest them.”

She stressed that oil spills have had a devastating impact on the community, causing crops to fail — resulting in poor germination and productivity. She further noted that the clean-up efforts have not yielded the promised positive impact, as the cleaned areas remain hard and unfit for planting.

“They’ve been cleaning that area for four or five years, and if you go to plant, the ground is incredibly hard,” she lamented. “They’re supposed to be moving the oil and softening the ground for us to plant, but now the ground is so stiff you can’t even use a hoe. I don’t know how they’re doing this current clean-up.”

The Niger Delta is home to one of the most diverse ecosystems in West Africa, teeming with fish and rich in plant and animal life. It is the sustenance of numerous ethnic communities, including the Ogonis and Gokanas, who depend on its natural resources for their survival.

According to ActionAid International, since oil was discovered in Ogoni territory in the 1950s, Shell — backed by the Nigerian government — has prioritised oil extraction at the expense of both the local population and the environment, leading to severe ecological and socio-economic consequences.

Oil spills have been a persistent issue in Nigeria’s Niger Delta. According to the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), between 2011 and 2022, the region experienced 10,463 spill incidents, which released a total of 507,135 barrels of oil into the environment. Ogoniland has been particularly hard-hit. In 2008, Shell’s Trans-Niger pipeline leaked approximately 600,000 barrels of oil into the soil there.

The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, the primary polluter in the region, frequently attributes oil spills—including the one in Oghale—to acts of sabotage. But many major spills have been linked to equipment failures and aging, poorly maintained pipelines, which the local community believes was the cause in this case.

During a visit by Gas Outlook to the Niger Delta in July 2024, the pipeline appeared to have recently leaked oil onto the ground and into the river.

The Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) findings, involving representatives from the oil company, the affected community, and government agencies to determine the cause of a spill, have not been made public. NOSDRA, the agency responsible for releasing these reports, has not published any investigation findings since 2022 and did not respond to inquiries about when— or if — this latest report would be disclosed.

A polluted river in Nigeria’s Bodo community (Photo credit: Paul Tullis, Samuel Ajala, Marcello Rossi, Abdulwaheed Sofiullahi)

Emmanuel Obemeata, an environmental health scientist and senior lecturer at the University of Port Harcourt, conducted a study on the oil spill. He acknowledged that sabotage was likely, but also noted that ageing pipelines were a probable cause.

“There is the issue of expired pipelines,” he explained. “If crude oil continues to pass through these pipelines, spills are inevitable because the deteriorating infrastructure will eventually leak.”

Given the scale of the spill and its impact on fishing communities, many locals and activists in Ogoniland suspect that Shell may still be secretly exploring the area, despite officially halting operations in 1993 following public protests.

“Shell is operating in Ogoniland – it’s no longer a secret,” said Obemata.

One source who agreed to speak under condition of anonymity told Gas Outlook that Shell runs unofficial operations in Ogale and Oboolo, both located within Ogoniland.

Shell claims that it only transports crude through the area and is not engaged in new exploration. However, multiple sources revealed that most of the company’s remaining facilities there are heavily guarded by the military, suggesting they may still be active.

“It is clear that Shell is attempting to recover the equivalent of what it has paid in compensation to communities affected by oil spills before fully exiting the Niger Delta,” Obemata said.

Shell declined to comment when contact by Gas Outlook over these claims, and said it was for Renaissance Africa Energy Company (RAEC) to comment. The REAC consortium did not respond when Gas Outlook contacted them.

A slow death for farming and fishing

Like Osaro, Lialo Oporoaji, a 54-year-old farmer from Akpajo, a rural community in Leleme LGA, has resorted to using chemicals to battle ants on her farm. But the fight has largely been in vain so far.

“Before [the spill], I could sell N20,000 worth of corn a day and sometimes N60,000. Now, it’s difficult to find even some corn to eat, and ants are ruining the crops,” Oporoaji said. “We are really struggling to get by.”

A speeding boat in Nigeria’s Eleme community (Photo credit: Paul Tullis, Samuel Ajala, Marcello Rossi, Abdulwaheed Sofiullahi)

In the villages surrounding Bodo, the once-fertile farmlands that have supported families for decades have turned barren due to oil pollution, rendering farming impossible. In 2017, Kay Holtzmann, a German geologist who was previously employed by Shell, wrote in a letter that the soil in the area “is literally soaked with hydrocarbons.”

Studies have also found that oil spills have devastated aquatic ecosystems, profoundly disrupting the livelihoods of communities that have relied on these rivers for their survival and daily needs for generations.

Mene Michael, Chairman of the Council of Traditional Rulers in the Bodo Community, expressed deep frustration over the situation. He said fishermen in his village are now forced to paddle for kilometres just to catch their own food. And by the time they return, the fish they’ve caught is often spoiled

“The food chain is in complete disarray,” he lamented.

The economic toll is devastating. Farmers and fishermen who used to support their families now struggle to buy food, pay school fees, or access healthcare. Many are forced to seek alternative means of survival, often by migrating to urban areas where they face new challenges of underemployment and poverty.

Wir-Le Agbaalor, a resident and activist from the Ebubu community in Eleme, emphasised his role in educating communities about the dangers of oil spills and discouraging acts like pipeline vandalism, which harm both the present and future generations.

He criticised ongoing remediation efforts, arguing they fail to address the core environmental damage. He also decried the lack of clean water in the region, noting that water provided by oil companies remains inadequate, leaving residents to rely on chemically polluted streams.

Agbaalor finally called on the government to involve communities in spill investigations and decision-making, and also ensure transparency through Joint Investigation Visits.

“What I want the government to do about this matter is to be honest with the community. Honest in the sense that when there is a spillage, the community should be allowed to join investigations and have a say in the process,” he said.

“Last month, I made it clear to the company that we need a competent entity to remediate our site. All the contracts for clean-up are polluting other communities, and it’s clear that they’re not solving their issues,” he stated. “The remediation they’re doing in Ogoniland is like starting a building from the rooftop instead of the foundation.”

The government did not respond when contacted over spill investigations in the Niger Delta by Gas Outlook. 

(Writing by Paul Tullis, Samuel Ajala, Marcello Rossi and Abdulwaheed Sofiullahi; editing by Sophie Davies)

This Long Read was supported by Journalismfund Europe.