Two NGOs, the Community Environment and Development Network (CEDEN) and Media Awareness and Justice Initiative, are joining forces to combat the effects of oil exploration on Oloibiri Communities in Bayelsa State.
This was disclosed at a capacity building workshop on effective eco-management enhancement and biodiversity promotion communication in Otuabagi, Bayelsa, on Friday, November 14, 2025.
The workshop assembled experts and stakeholders to seek strategies towards restoring lost species and promoting sustainable ecological livelihoods in Oloibiri and the Niger Delta region at large.
In his presentation, Menidin Egbo, the Executive Director, CEDEN, expressed concern over the gradual extinction forest ecologies and wetlands in the Niger Delta region.
Egbo expressed the need to restore the raffia forest ecology in Ekpadio in Otuabagi Community, Ogbia Local Government Area.
He said that communication was critical towards ensuring biodiversity conservation and effective ecological management.
According to him, communication is important in stimulating community responses and governance for climate adaptation and mitigation.
“There is a crucial need for local actions to support nature conservation. We also need to link these efforts to global environmental sustainability goals.
“We are calling for more community-based ecological management strategies that will support forest restoration.
“Part of it is to encourage the planting of native species and management of natural regeneration,” Egbo said.
It will be recalled that Otuabagi hosts Oloibiri Oil Well 1, where Nigeria first found oil in commercial quantities to join the league of oil producing countries.
By Nathan Nwakamma