More than 30 secondary school students were treated at the General Hospital in Ijebu-Ode on Wednesday after a gas odor swept through schools in three Ogun State towns, and the state government says the situation is under control while it investigates.
Kayode Akinmade, the governor’s special adviser on information and strategy, issued the government’s assurance in a statement from Abeokuta. He said officials counted the 30-plus students at the hospital during an assessment visit, and that other affected students from other schools were reportedly taken to different hospitals. A separate local report put the number needing medical attention above 100. The government has not confirmed that figure.
Doctors found shortness of breath, stomach disorders and drowsiness among the patients, Akinmade said. Some students needed oxygen to stabilize their breathing, while others received lighter treatment. Most had been discharged by the time the assessment team left, and a few remained under observation.
The odor struck students at Anglican Girls Grammar School, both its public and private sections, in Obalende, Ijebu-Ode, and at Ijebu-Igbo Girls Grammar School. In Ago-Iwoye, it disrupted classes enough that some schools closed early and sent pupils home.
It was not confined to classrooms. Residents of neighboring areas reported smelling it too, and the chairman of Ijebu North Local Government Area said he perceived it at the council secretariat. The field assessment found the odor was not limited to school premises. A team from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission arrived to join the assessment, and the government’s field team visited Ijebu-Igbo Girls Grammar School to check the surrounding environment.
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Kehinde Bello, general manager of the Ogun State Environmental Protection Agency, said the latest episode is linked to underground gas emissions recorded in Ijebu-Ode since April. He said preliminary findings point to a natural occurrence tied to geological and tectonic fault lines, not sabotage or a gas pipeline leak. That echoes an earlier position from Environment Commissioner Ola Oresanya.
The government’s own statement, though, stops short of declaring the cause settled. It says the latest incident, which reached several communities and put students in hospital, has prompted further investigation to establish the source of the odor and the factors behind the symptoms. The field assessment is expected to report on how far the emission spread and what it could mean for the environment. Residents have been urged to stay calm, and they have been advised to cover their noses and mouths with wet handkerchiefs instead of nose masks.
Wednesday’s episode follows three earlier ones. On April 1, at least 30 students at Our Lady of Apostles Secondary School in Ijebu-Ode were hospitalized with breathing difficulty. Oresanya said monitors installed after that incident recorded methane at up to 15,000 parts per million during the second occurrence. He said authorities weighed gas pipelines, mining activity, sabotage and natural sources before concluding the emissions were likely escaping through ground fractures, noting that Ijebu-Ode sits on a mix of sedimentary and basement rock. A third wave in June sent about 69 people, mostly students with dizziness, nausea and fainting, to Ijebu-Ode General Hospital and private clinics. Local tallies put the combined toll for the first three waves above 200 students and teachers over roughly two months.
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The Eastern Update understands that Wednesday’s incident is therefore the fourth reported episode since April, counting the three earlier waves described by state officials.
At a stakeholders’ town hall in Ijebu-Ode on June 28, Oresanya said the gases were mainly methane and hydrogen sulfide escaping through fractures along the Ifewara-Zungeru Trans-Atlantic fault line. He placed that line running from Mojoda through Ijebu-Ode into Osun State and on to Zungeru in Niger State. He called the emissions “not traditional mythology but a natural geological process.” The commissioner said researchers are still working out whether the gas is thermogenic or methanogenic, and whether a pressurized natural gas reserve sits beneath Ijebu-Ode. Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and geological experts have been brought in to help.
Health Commissioner Tomi Coker urged residents in June to stay calm and follow safety measures when emissions occur. Coker also asked parents to let the government finish its safety procedures before students returned to class.
The state government has attributed the Ijebu-Ode emissions to natural underground causes since June, and it has dismissed claims tying them to spiritual beliefs or security threats.
