Bayelsa's Ogbia Communities Commend NCDMB, Sylva For Oloibiri Museum Project

Ogbia Communities in Bayelsa have praised the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources for the Oloibiri Museum and Research Center Project's Wednesday launch.

Chief Kenny Clinton, the chairman of the Otuabagi Council of Chiefs, said in an interview with the NAN on Friday that the project, which had been in the works for many years, was a dream come true.

“It has brought a very great joy because this is a long awaited project, some of our fathers who were eager to see this lasting legacy by the government have died without seeing it, so we that are opportuned to see today, we are filled with joy.

“The oil and gas museum will remain as a historical landmark, and it will bring development to Otuabagi Community, because despite our huge contribution to Nigeria’s economy, you can see that several decades after development has eluded us.

“We are still surrounded by bush, several governments at the centre have made promises to us without fulfilling them, but Buhari’s government has shown signs of sincerity to us.

"We are very happy and give credit to NCDMB and Petroleum Ministries run by our patriotic sons, Simbi Wabite and Timipre Sylva respectively,” Clinton said.

The first oil was discovered at Otuabagi, which is in the Oloibiri district, according to him, and since Ogbia villages are divided into districts, Shell discovered oil in Otuobagi in 1956.

He said that Shell called the oilfield after the district rather than the actual community where the oil field is located as opposed to naming it after Otuabagi.

The Oloibiri oil fields are currently under Oil Mining Lease (OML) 29, which is now run by a local oil company, Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production, as a result of SPDC's divestiture from the asset in 2015.

For US$ 2.4 billion, Aiteo purchased SPDC's investment in OML 29, which comprises the 97-kilometer Nembe Creek Trunkline (NCTL).

“Oloibiri Community is very far from this oil field, we do not even have a boundary with them.

“I call on all sons and daughters of Otuobagi to be peaceful, we should see this project as a welcome development in this Community and every Otuobagi indigene should protect this project, so that it comes to stay,” Clinton said.

The initiative has offered relief to the region that propelled Nigeria into the league of oil exporting nations, according to Omounkorigha George-Adionin, Chairman of the Otuabagi Community Development Committee.

“The whole of Ogbia is in the mood of joy, because we have not seen this before, we have been looking forward to seeing a thing like this but it has not been done, but thank God we have seen the commencement of this project, it marks prosperity.

“The Federal Government should put all hands on deck to ensure that the project is actualized because we are the goose that laid the golden egg that fed the whole nation for decades.

“Though it took too long for government to remember us, but I think this is God’s own time for Otuobagi Community,” the Community leader said.

On Wednesday, Chief Timipre Sylva, the Minister of State for Petroleum, officially broke ground on the N17 billion project.