An environmental activist dismissed claims that a recent explosion on the Trans-Niger Delta Pipeline in Bodo, Rivers State, was connected to the region's political turmoil, attributing the incident to equipment failure.

Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface, executive director of the Youth and Environmental Advocacy Center, told the Daily Post that the explosion was due to the aging infrastructure operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and Shell.

“These pipelines have been laid for over sixty years, and as a result, they are bursting and deflating like balloons when there is heavy pressure transporting crude oil to the export terminal in Bonny,” Fyneface said.

He rejected speculation that the explosion was linked to threats of pipeline sabotage amid ethnic tensions tied to the state’s political crisis. Fyneface clarified that Ogoniland, where the explosion occurred, is distinct from the Ikwerre and Ijaw ethnic groups involved in the dispute.

The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency will determine the specific cause of the explosion, whether due to equipment failure or sabotage, he said.

Fyneface described oil spills and pipeline explosions in the Niger Delta as “a regular occurrence,” adding that weeks without such incidents are rare.

He warned that more pipeline failures and oil spills are likely due to the deteriorating infrastructure and the ongoing divestment by multinational oil companies.

“A lot of these pipelines are already bad, already weak,” Fyneface said. “And divestment is going on, where the multinational oil companies are handing over these facilities to indigenous companies who even lack the technological capacity and finances to run them.”

He concluded that inadequate maintenance of the pipeline system will lead to increased explosions, equipment failures, and oil spills.