Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has called on the Federal and Ondo State governments to intervene in Abereke community, Ilaje Local Government Area, where residents face worsening conditions from recurring oil spills and ocean surges. A field visit by CAPPA revealed extensive environmental damage, including contaminated water bodies and destroyed fishing equipment, following an oil spill last October allegedly linked to Guarantee Petroleum Company. The spill has crippled fishing, the community's primary livelihood, while coastal erosion and tidal surges have submerged land and destroyed the only primary school. Domestic animals, including goats, sheep and pigs, have died, and access to clean water is increasingly difficult. CAPPA reported that despite repeated appeals, the community has received little response from state authorities or oil firms. The group documented widespread destruction of aquatic life and fishing tools such as nets, boats and engines. Healthcare access is limited, with residents relying on local remedies. CAPPA demanded an environmental impact assessment, immediate clean-up, coastal protection infrastructure, compensation for residents and restoration of schools and livelihoods. The organisation noted similar oil spill challenges across the Ilaje region, with communities accusing Agip, Shell, Chevron and Guarantee Petroleum Company of contributing to ecological harm. "Abereke is in the throes of a preventable disaster," said Martins Ogunlade, CAPPA's Associate Director. "What we saw is a community abandoned to the combined impacts of corporate irresponsibility and government inaction."
Martins Ogunlade of CAPPA did not mince words: Abereke is suffering from a preventable disaster made real by the double failure of oil companies and government at every level. The fact that an oil spill from last October remains uncleaned and continues to destroy livelihoods exposes a system where environmental damage is treated as a permanent feature, not an emergency requiring response.
This is not an isolated incident but part of a long-standing pattern in Nigeria's coastal communities, where extractive activities proceed with little regard for local survival. In Abereke, the collapse of the only primary school and the absence of healthcare reflect how environmental neglect cascades into social collapse. The accusation against both indigenous firms like Guarantee Petroleum and multinationals such as Shell and Chevron points to a broader network of accountability failure, where no operator feels compelled to act even when communities name them directly.
For the people of Abereke, this means living in a landscape where fishing — their economic backbone — is no longer viable, clean water is a commodity, and children have no school. The slow death of such communities is not accidental but structural, sustained by policies that allow resources to be taken while leaving ruin behind.
This mirrors the fate of many oil-impacted areas across the Niger Delta, where promises outweigh action and visits yield statements, not solutions. Abereke's crisis fits a national trend: ecological degradation tolerated in silence until entire communities are erased — not by war or famine, but by neglect.
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