Environmental and civil society organisations have criticised the Federal Government, Delta State Government and Heritage Energy Operational Services Limited (HEOSL) over what they described as the slow response to a wellhead blowout in Uzere community, Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State, which they say has continued for more than a month.
The blowout, which reportedly began on June 27, 2026, following an equipment failure at a Heritage Energy-operated facility, has severely impacted Uheri Quarter in the Uzere Kingdom, destroying farmlands, contaminating water bodies, displacing residents and disrupting livelihoods.
The incident has reignited concerns over the environmental legacy of oil exploration in the Niger Delta. Uzere, regarded as one of Nigeria’s earliest oil-producing communities after Oloibiri in present-day Bayelsa State, has experienced several oil-related environmental incidents over the years.
The environmental advocates accused the operating company of failing to contain the blowout promptly and criticised government authorities for what they described as an inadequate response.
Executive Director of the Community Development Advocacy Foundation (CODAF), Benin Richard, described the incident as an environmental emergency requiring urgent intervention.
According to him, although the company has engaged with the community, its response has not matched the scale of the disaster.
He said the incident reflected a longstanding pattern of environmental negligence affecting oil-producing communities across the Niger Delta.
“This equipment failure has unleashed a catastrophe that will take years to remedy. This is not the time for half-measures; this is a moment that demands urgency, transparency, and genuine commitment to restoration.
“We cannot continue to treat these spills as isolated incidents when they represent a pattern of negligence that has plagued our oil-producing communities for decades,” he said.
Chairman of the Isoko Environment Monitoring Committee (IEMC) and Director of Climate Justice at the Environmental Defenders Network (EDEN), Dr. Maimoni Ubrei-Joe, called for immediate environmental remediation and support for affected residents.
He noted that the destruction of aquatic ecosystems, farmlands and residential areas had created both environmental and humanitarian challenges for the community.
“Heritage Company must move beyond token gestures and demonstrate genuine commitment to the people of Uheri quarter. Environmental restoration must begin immediately, not weeks or months from now. The aquatic life that sustained our fishermen is gone, the crops that fed our families are destroyed, and our people have been displaced from their ancestral homes. This is not merely an environmental issue, it is a human rights crisis that demands a coordinated response from both the company and the government,” Ubrei-Joe said.
Similarly, Executive Director of the Revenlyn Development Initiative (RDI), Philip Jakpor, urged Heritage Energy to implement a comprehensive remediation and compensation programme while calling for an investigation into the cause of the equipment failure.
Jakpor said the incident underscored the need for stronger environmental accountability in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
Also reacting, Osariodion Andrew Ugbogbo, Media and Communications Lead to the Convener of NGOs for a Better Delta, advocated for a multi-stakeholder town hall meeting involving the company, government agencies, host communities and civil society organisations to develop both immediate and long-term solutions.
Executive Director of the Environmental Defenders Network (EDEN), Chima Williams, condemned what he described as the prolonged failure to contain the blowout.
According to him, the continued discharge has already forced residents from their homes and should not be allowed to persist.
“The government at Federal and state level must not allow the polluter to continue looking away and feigning helplessness in the face of their assault on the environment in the community,” he added.
Niger Delta youth advocate Idowu Eseku also criticised the government’s handling of the incident, arguing that oil-producing communities continue to bear the environmental and social costs of petroleum production without adequate protection.
Meanwhile, community leaders have reportedly written to Heritage Energy demanding urgent intervention while advising residents within the affected areas to relocate from locations considered unsafe.
As of the time of filing this report, Heritage Energy Operational Services Limited had not issued an official public statement on the incident.
The coalition of environmental groups also outlined a series of recommendations, including the declaration of a state of emergency in the affected communities, establishment of an emergency relief fund, an independent forensic investigation into the equipment failure, comprehensive health assessments for residents, environmental restoration, strengthened regulatory enforcement, legal support for affected families, improved disaster preparedness for oil-producing communities, and the creation of a multi-stakeholder oversight committee to monitor remediation and compensation efforts.
