Explosion Rocks Another Rivers State Oil Facility

By Suleiman Anyalewechi

Amidst State of Emergency, another explosion has  hit an  oil facility in the troubled Rivers State.

A statement from the Executive Director ,of a civil society group, Youth and Environmental Advocacy Centre, YEAC,  Dr Fyneface Dumnamene on Sunday March 23, 2025, informed that the early morning explosion affected Soku oil facility ,in Akuku Toru local council of Rivers state .

The group noted that the facility is being operated by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited, NLNG.

The Source reports that the latest explosion is coming on the heels of  two  other incidents in the last  one week .

It will be recalled that explosion had rocked the Trans Niger Pipeline in Bodo ,Gokana Local Government Area ,and another oil installation in Ogba/Egbema/ Ndoni local council all within the second week of March .

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in his nationwide broadcast , to announce the imposition of a State of emergency on Rivers state on Tuesday March 18, cited the attacks as one of the reasons for his action .

The President and his Attorney General and Minister of Justice had blamed the attack on the oil facilities on the suspended Governor of the state Siminalayi Fubara who they accused of goading the attackers

However, the cause(s) of the latest explosion could not be ascertained  as at the time of  reporting.

But the YEAC-Nigeria said the explosion severely  affected the Soku,oil facility ,with the subsequent fire  still raging .

“An explosion accompanied by fireballs was heard ,and seen in the sky from the facility area ,which is difficult to reach .

“The fire is still ongoing as of the time of report”, the YEAC noted .

However ,speculations are rife that the incident may have been caused by equipment failure or a sabotage attack.

The YEAC in its statement urged all industry regulatory authorities ,and security agencies to urgently investigate the incident ,with a view to finding out the cause(s) .

Particularly, the group called on the authorities of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency to conduct a thorough inquest into the incident,so as to bring to justice the perpetrators .

As at the time of reporting ,concerned industry regulators and security agencies were yet to react to the development.