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From Tony John, Port Harcourt
The South-South Development Commission (SSDC) has delivered humanitarian relief materials to residents of Bille Kingdom in Degema Local Government Area of Rivers State, following persistent gas seepage and methane emissions that have contaminated underground water sources, rivers and local wells.
The intervention, initiated by the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the SSDC, Ms Usoro Akpabio, was aimed at cushioning the hardship faced by residents whose livelihoods and daily activities have been disrupted by the environmental crisis.
The commission’s Executive Director, Social Services and Human Capital Development, Preye Aganaba, led the delegation to the affected communities on behalf of the managing director.
Ms Akpabio said the SSDC would not abandon the affected community, assuring residents that their recovery remained a priority.
She described Bille as an important economic hub in Rivers State and the South-South region, warning that the environmental crisis had consequences beyond damage to property.
According to her, the persistent gas seepage has disrupted businesses, threatened food security, displaced families and deprived residents of their sources of livelihood.
She said the situation underscored the importance of the SSDC’s mandate to address developmental and humanitarian challenges confronting communities across the South-South region.
Akpabio disclosed that the commission provided 86 categories of food and non-food relief materials, including rice, beans, garri, noodles, groundnut oil, palm oil, mattresses, mats, wrappers, mosquito nets, buckets, sanitary pads and baby diapers.
She said the intervention was in fulfilment of President Bola Tinubu’s directive to the commission to provide succour to vulnerable communities and accelerate development across the six South-South states.
“The plight of the people of Bille is of great concern to the Commission. Their recovery remains a priority, and we want to assure them that they will not be overlooked in our developmental agenda,” she said.
She added that the intervention was designed to complement the efforts of Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, the Rivers State Emergency Management Agency and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
She pledged to sustain the commission’s commitment to environmental protection, disaster resilience, sustainable infrastructure and livelihood improvement across the region.
Speaking on behalf of the Bille Council of Chiefs, its Chairman, Chief Bennett Okpoke, thanked the SSDC for responding to the community’s plight but called for urgent government intervention to address the root cause of the crisis.
Okpoke said residents had endured persistent gas and methane seepage for a considerable period, with devastating consequences for their water sources, livelihoods and daily activities.
He appealed to the Federal and Rivers State governments, as well as relevant environmental and regulatory agencies, to urgently provide a lasting solution to the pollution threatening the health and economic survival of the people.
Also speaking, the Head of NEMA for Bayelsa and Rivers states, Chidi Ogundu, said the agency had contacted the SSDC over the environmental emergency and expressed appreciation for the commission’s swift response.
Ogundu disclosed that an Environmental Impact Assessment had been conducted to establish the extent of the damage, adding that the findings indicated significant adverse effects on the community.
He said NEMA’s technical team had commenced efforts to address the community’s potable water challenges, particularly the contamination of water sources caused by the gas seepage.
The relief materials were formally handed over to the Bille community through NEMA, in the presence of the Council of Chiefs of His Royal Majesty, King Igbikingeri Ngowari Cornelius Herbert, Agbaniye-Jike XVIII.
