Nigeria: in Bille, gas pollution is a time bomb for residents' health
Since October 2025, residents of Bille, a fishing village near Port Harcourt in southern Nigeria, have been breathing gas escaping through ageing pipelines buried underground for decades. No state of emergency or disaster has been declared despite several deaths in Bille from pollution combining methane, carbon dioxide and hydrogen, according to scientific assessments. In early September 2026 an explosion destroyed the room of Joy Amos, who was evacuated to Port Harcourt and died of her injuries on 21 September 2026.
Why it matters: It illustrates the environmental and public-health liabilities that ageing energy infrastructure can leave behind in oil- and gas-producing regions.