By Sanni Marvelous
Nigeria has recorded 15,414 oil spill cases between 2010 and 2024, losing crude oil valued at more than $48.49 billion in the process.
A Datavox media analysis of official records from the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revealed that the country lost an estimated 662,741.246 barrels of crude oil equivalent to 104.7 million litres—over the 14-year period. At the CBN’s July 2025 reference price of $73.18 per barrel, the losses translate into $48,499,404,382.28.
This volume amounts to 3,314 tanker loads of crude oil drained away through spillage, underscoring both economic and environmental devastation.
Accountability concerns
The report showed that 2,132 spill sites were never visited by a Joint Investigation Team (JIT), the standard mechanism for verifying, documenting, and addressing incidents. The absence of such investigations has raised accountability concerns, leaving many cases unresolved and their impacts unmitigated.
It further disclosed that oil companies failed to provide estimates of the quantity spilled in about 5,544 incidents. According to NOSDRA, this lack of transparency makes it impossible to fully determine the extent of crude lost or design effective remediation strategies.
Scale of damage
Within the period, NOSDRA classified 53 incidents as major oil spills—each involving either over 250 barrels discharged into inland waters or more than 2,500 barrels released onto land, swamps, shorelines, and the open sea. Another 374 spills were categorised as medium-scale, while 5,930 cases remained uncategorised due to incomplete or missing information.
Oil remains Nigeria’s largest source of foreign exchange, accounting for about 70 per cent of government revenue and 90 per cent of export earnings. Analysts say the loss of over $48 billion to oil spills in 14 years translates to wasted resources that could have funded critical investments in infrastructure, healthcare, and education.
Environmental cost
The financial toll is only one side of the crisis. The environmental consequences have been severe, particularly in the Niger Delta where farming and fishing sustain local communities. Spills have destroyed farmlands, polluted rivers, and wiped out aquatic life, pushing thousands deeper into poverty.
Experts attribute the recurring incidents to weak regulatory enforcement, vandalism, oil theft, and aging infrastructure. In many cases, clean-up efforts have been delayed or abandoned, trapping affected communities in long-term ecological and economic hardship.
Rights groups react
Environmental advocates have long accused oil companies of negligence and the government of weak oversight. Amnesty International and Friends of the Earth describe Nigeria’s oil spill record as among the worst globally.
Amnesty International, in a report, stated: “Over five decades, oil and gas extraction have caused large-scale, continued contamination of the water and soil in Ogoni communities. The continued and systematic failure of oil companies and government to clean up have left hundreds of thousands of Ogoni people facing serious health risks, struggling to access safe drinking water, and unable to earn a living.”
Mark Dummett, Business and Human Rights Researcher at Amnesty, added: “Shell and Eni claim they are doing everything they can to prevent oil spills but Decoders’ research suggests otherwise. They found that the companies often ignore reports of oil spills for months on end – on one occasion Eni took more than a year to respond. The Niger Delta is one of the most polluted places on earth and it beggars belief that the companies responsible are still displaying this level of negligence.”
Slow progress on clean-up
The Nigerian government has repeatedly pledged to hold operators accountable and restore devastated communities. One flagship effort is the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), launched to clean up Ogoniland after decades of spills. But progress has been slow, with residents frequently accusing both government and oil firms of neglect.
