Three people have been killed and at least twelve others hospitalised with severe burns following a pipeline explosion in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State, which residents attributed to an ageing NNPC pipeline that community leaders had repeatedly flagged as a safety hazard.
The explosion, which occurred in the early hours of Tuesday morning, completely destroyed seven homes and left a section of the Ughelli-Asaba highway impassable for hours.
Eyewitness accounts indicate that the fire started from a leak that had been visible for several days before the explosion. Community leader Chief Ovuozourie Macaulay told Naija Delta Voice: "We reported this leak to the NNPC office in Warri three times in the past two weeks. Nobody came. Now three of our people are dead."
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) confirmed the incident in a brief statement, saying it had deployed emergency response teams to the site and that investigations were underway to determine the cause of the explosion.
Activist group Environmental Rights Action (ERA) has called for an independent investigation and demanded that NNPC be held criminally liable for the deaths, arguing that negligence in pipeline maintenance directly caused the tragedy.
The incident has reignited debates about the state of Nigeria's pipeline infrastructure, much of which was laid in the 1960s and 1970s and has been poorly maintained due to a combination of funding constraints, vandalism, and institutional dysfunction.
The families of the deceased have appealed for government support and compensation, while the community has vowed to pursue legal action against NNPC if adequate remediation is not provided.
