Nigeria is one of the world's major oil producers. Ogbia village, from which the country’s first oil well was struck, is where the bulk of Nigeria’s oil comes from but the area is sinking in poverty, armed violence and environmental disaster.
Oloibiri oil well was the first to be struck in Nigeria. That was the story I was told before I embarked on a journey to visit this memorable site on my way to a public forum in the Ogbia village, the community in which Oloibiri oil well in Nigeria is located.
The purpose of the public forum was to discuss and solidarize with the people on their plight and impressions about the fact that oil was first discovered and exploited in their community and yet poverty is remains endemic in the area.
Driving from Yenagoa, capital of Bayelsa State, into the heart of Oloibiri, I could not help but imagine what the cohabitants of these communities have lived through given that oil production and export from the Oloibiri field in present day Bayelsa State commenced in 1958 with an initial production rate of 5,100 barrels of crude oil per day.
At the famous Oloibiri oil well is a monument which attests that oil production in Nigeria started there nearly 50 years ago but for the fact that it is dearly engrafted that the edifice was signed and commissioned by President Olusegun Obasanjo himself, I would have doubted the fact that oil production actually started there.
There was not a single industrial structure around the location of the well, to confirm some previous form of industrial activity there.
On arrival at the venue of the public forum in Ogbia community, approximately 5-km away from the Oloibiri oil well, the members of the community welcomed us with joy. They were elated to see a group of people who had travelled from all over Africa to share their story with them.
Their story was a simple one, yet full of misfortune: Yes, oil was first discovered in Oloibiri, but apart from the monument which states that, there is no evidence of it. Speaker after speaker from the Oloibiri and its surrounding villages narrated how their farm lands, water bodies and road have been destroyed by oil spillages and caterpillar trucks. They said conflicts in the region were partly a result of Shell's non-transparent compensation scheme to effected communities.
