By Chigozie Igbo Jr
Residents of Ogwu Ikpele, a riverine community in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State, on Friday and Saturday, January 16 and 17, 2026, staged a mass protest against Sterling Petroleum Energy Exploration Company (SPEECO) over what they described as a decade of neglect, unfulfilled agreements, and environmental degradation.
Ogwu Ikpele, situated along the River Niger and surrounded by rich wetlands, has lived with seasonal flooding for years. However, community leaders say the presence of SPEECO, which has explored oil in the area for the past ten years, has brought more hardship than relief.
The protest coincided with activities marking SPEECO’s 10th anniversary. Hundreds of youths, women, children, and elderly residents took to the streets, barricading access routes to oil facilities, shutting down drilling operations, and cutting off electricity supply to the rigs. Community sources claimed the shutdown resulted in losses estimated at over ₦200 million for the company.
A visit to the community revealed an absence of basic amenities, including motorable roads, a functional hospital, steady electricity, and pipe-borne water. Apart from a few boreholes recently provided by the Anambra State Government and the APC-led federal administration, residents said little had changed despite a decade of oil exploration.
Speaking to journalists, the Traditional Prime Minister of Ogwu Ikpele Kingdom, Chief Akaka Damian Anigboso (Odua Ukwu of Ogwu Ikpele), lamented what he described as years of suffering and broken promises.
“For ten years, oil has been drilled in our land, yet we have nothing to show for it,” he said. “All the memoranda of understanding we signed with SPEECO have not been honoured. Our oil is being taken and transferred to neighbouring states, while our people remain in poverty.”
Chief Anigboso alleged that fully loaded oil tankers are moved daily from the community, yet local youths remain unemployed and uneducated. He added that promises of scholarships from primary to postgraduate levels, employment opportunities, hospitals, electricity, and pipe-borne water were never fulfilled.
“Our riverbanks are being eroded by their vessels. More than 30 houses have been washed into the River Niger,” he said. “We have instructed our youths to stop further operations until the company does the right thing.”
Also speaking, former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Chuchu Onyema, described the protest as a last resort after years of failed negotiations.
“What the people are marking today is ten years of regret and degradation,” Onyema said. “There is a social corporate responsibility component that SPEECO has ignored. We are entitled to about three per cent of what is metered, but there is nothing to show for it.”
He further alleged that gas flaring in the area could be converted to electricity, yet the community remains in darkness, while the company enjoys 24-hour power supply. According to him, telecommunications infrastructure in the area serves only the company, forcing residents to travel to riverbanks to access mobile networks from neighbouring Delta State.
Onyema also claimed that no indigene of Ogwu Ikpele or Anambra State has been employed by SPEECO. “Let them prove me wrong,” he said, adding that the company’s operations have contributed to erosion, pollution, and loss of livelihoods.
He, however, disclosed that Governor Chukwuma Soludo has assured the community that the Uga–Ossomala–Ogwu Ikpele road will soon be rehabilitated. He also revealed plans to build a hospital, noting that the existing primary healthcare centre is inadequate for the community’s population.
Earlier, the President-General of Ogwu Ikpele Community, Mr. Esumai Patrick Chukwudi, said the protest was to draw attention to “ten years of rejection, humiliation, and insult.”
“There is no employment, no road, no water, no hospital—nothing,” he said. “The Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) has not benefited us because there is no proper metering. Oil is transported through pipelines laid beneath the River Niger, making it impossible for the state to determine the quantity extracted.”
Chukwudi alleged that gas flaring and oil pollution have damaged farmlands and fishing activities, particularly affecting palm trees and aquatic life.