The Federal Government, acting through the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), has deployed a specialised technical team of geologists and environmental experts to Ogun State to investigate recurring subsurface gas emissions that have repeatedly triggered health emergencies and disrupted academic activities across secondary schools in the Ijebu axis.
The deployment follows a high-level emergency assessment on Saturday morning, October 31, 2026, at the Ogun State Ministry of Environment headquarters in Abeokuta, where state officials and federal technical leads aligned on immediate intervention strategies.
The crisis first escalated in April 2026, when nearly 40 students at Our Lady of Apostles Secondary School near Epe Garage in Ijebu-Ode suffered sudden respiratory distress and faintness from foul-smelling airborne fumes. Weeks later, on May 15, a second major flare-up at Anglican Girls Grammar School in Ijebu-Ode led to the emergency hospitalization of over 120 students and staff members.
By June 1, 2026, the atmospheric seepage expanded into neighboring communities, sending 69 students from St. Anthony Grammar School in Ijebu-Imusin to the Ogun State Hospital for urgent oxygen therapy and medical stabilization.
Most recently, on the morning of October 21, 2026, at approximately 10:00 AM, a widespread surge in emissions forced the immediate evacuation of over 100 students across three separate school campuses in Ijebu-Ode, Ago-Iwoye, and general Ijebu-Igbo, filling local wards and emergency centers to capacity.
Briefing newsmen after the inter-agency meeting in Abeokuta, the Ogun State Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Ola Oresanya, assured residents that early environmental testing points to a natural geological occurrence rather than industrial sabotage or localized pipeline leaks.
”All I want to say is that we don’t have any reason to panic,” Mr. Oresanya stated. “What we know and what we are bringing to the table is that the gas affecting our people is subsurface gas. We’ve proved that over and over. There is no gas pipeline at Owode in Ikenne or around Ijebu-Omu where these things are happening. It is coming from the upper crust, and what triggers it will be established by the joint team.”
Confirming the health response, the Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Tomi Coker, noted that all students affected during previous episodes were successfully stabilized and discharged without long-term damage, though medical teams across the Ijebu-Ode and Ijebu-Igbo General Hospitals remain on elevated alert.
The arriving NUPRC technical delegation, operating under the Epe Study Group framework, has begun taking deep-soil gas samples, conducting ambient air quality mapping, and running subsurface geophysical surveys across affected school premises to determine the exact tectonic triggers and implement lasting safety measures.
