For six years, the Ororo-1 oil well off Nigeria's Ilaje coastline has burned continuously, releasing smoke, soot, and toxic fumes into nearby communities. Residents of Awoye and surrounding settlements report persistent coughs, respiratory difficulties, skin problems, and collapsing livelihoods they link to the blowout incident that ignited the well in April 2020.
Health Crisis Unfolds
Bodunwa Orugbemi, 70, says her 21-year-old son Ijadopin started coughing one evening in May inside their small wooden home in Awoye. Within days, his cough intensified, followed by skin irritation and difficulty breathing. "He started shivering and coughing uncontrollably. Now he can eat, but he still cannot speak," she says from a hospital cot. She believes his sickness is linked to the pollution from the offshore well.
Across Ondo state's Ilaje coast, residents share similar stories. Philip Jakpor, executive director of the NGO Renevlyn Development Initiative, says people's experiences reflect a familiar pattern in the oil-rich region: environmental disasters persisting for years without health monitoring. "What is happening in Awoye is not unique. In the Niger Delta, the plight of oil-polluted communities has reached a point where people are forced to live with contaminated air and water," he says.
The Ororo-1 Blowout
The Ororo-1 oil well was originally drilled by Chevron Corporation, which later capped and abandoned the field. Nigeria's then petroleum regulator, the Department of Petroleum Resources, awarded licences to two indigenous firms, Owena Oil and Gas and Guarantee Petroleum, which continued operations until the blowout ignited the well. Temilorun Patrick Ajimisogbe, a fisher in Awoye, recalls: "It was around 7pm when the explosion happened. The whole community shook. At first, we thought it was thunder rolling in from the ocean, but when we rushed out of our houses, we saw thick smoke rising from the offshore drilling facility. Since that day, nothing has been the same."
Afterwards, fishers stayed away from the water for days as layers of soot and the stench of crude oil spread along the coast. Years later, Ajimisogbe says people still complain of coughs, skin irritation, and dizziness alongside the drastic impact on fishing. "Sometimes, we wake up in the morning and just see oil spread everywhere. Before we know it, the water will carry it away again." Black soot settles inside water containers and food left uncovered, yet no government agency has conducted a comprehensive public health assessment.
Expert Warnings on Toxic Exposure
Dr Bieye Briggs, an environmental health expert, says the core concern is prolonged exposure to toxicants. "What is truly worrying is the lack of an adequate bio-monitoring regime to determine what people may be ingesting into their bodies." A recent study by the Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre on women in Otuabagi, Bayelsa state, revealed high levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in women's blood, as well as contamination of soil and water.
Dr Nnimmo Bassey of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation says continuous burning of crude oil releases hazardous pollutants such as benzene, sulphur dioxide, particulate matter, and PAHs, which are associated with cancer, respiratory, and cardiovascular diseases. "If you consider what the people in Awoye have been continuously exposed to for six years, it may be comparable to what communities face where there is constant gas flaring and oil spills. You can be sure there will be elevated levels of blood disorders, cancers, skin diseases, breathing difficulties, and deepening poverty."
Livelihoods Collapse
Fishing, the main livelihood, has been devastated. Awoye's fishers once returned with baskets full of croaker, catfish, tilapia, mackerel, and barracuda. Now, Ajimisogbe says, "When you cast your net, sometimes the fish smell of crude oil. Unless you buy fuel worth 60,000 to 70,000 naira [£33 to £39], twice as much as before, and travel much farther out to sea, you'd hardly get a decent catch." Oil contamination forms slick layers over the water's surface, blocking oxygen exchange and destroying breeding grounds. Dead fish sometimes wash up near polluted creeks after heavy discharge.
For women who sell fish in local markets, dwindling catches mean lower incomes and rising debts. Christianah Abiye, a fishmonger, says: "At first we thought the fire would stop. Now it feels like we have been abandoned with it."
Community Frustration
Awoye's traditional leader, Happiness Abiye, expresses growing frustration: "Our people are dying slowly, with increased sickness and hunger linked to this pollution. Fishermen no longer catch like before, children are coughing, and women spend their little money treating illnesses that were rare before this fire. We feel abandoned. It is as if the lives of coastal people do not matter to those in power."
Environmental campaigners say the disaster exposes systemic failures in Nigeria's environmental governance. Bassey says: "The Niger Delta environment has become a completely sacrificed zone. We talk a lot about oil spills and gas flaring, but we hardly talk about produced water. Communities are carrying the health burden, while regulators remain largely absent."
Experts call for a system to monitor environmental and health risks in the delta, where no comprehensive study on oil pollution's long-term health effects exists. "You breathe it every day," says Abiye. Neither Owena Oil and Gas nor the Ondo State government responded to requests for comment.
