A Bayelsa State High Court sitting in Yenagoa on Thursday resolved legal dispute that threatened to stall the Oloibiri Museum and Research Centre, at Otuabagi in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa.

The Otuabagi and Otuogidi communities where the first oil well in Nigeria and subsequent oil finds are located had demanded a change of name to reflect their status and correct the ‘historical error’ and injustice to them.

The Ogbia High Court presided over by Justice Simon Amaduobogha held that Otuabagi Community is host to the first oil well in West Africa where crude was struck in commercial quantity in 1956.

The court adopted the terms of settlement reached by parties following mediation by the Ijaw National Congress (INC) as consent judgement.

The INC, the pan Ijaw socio-cultural group had waded into the crisis and approached the court for an amicable out of court settlement which was granted.

The court also ruled that Oloibiri Museum and Research Centre, Otuabagi should remain as the name of the earmarked project as proposed by the Federal Government.

The court, in the suit number OHC/10/2021, ordered Oloibiri Community to desist from demanding a relocation of the Museum and Research Centre Project or any part thereof since the earmarked project can only be sited where artefacts such as the first Oil Well are located.

The Olobiri Museum project located in Otuabagi, Otuogidi and Opume host communities of the Oloibiri Field is expected to cost N117 billion according to the 2021 contract details.

It was learnt from court records that the Oloibiri Oil field within Oil Mining Lease (OML) hitherto operated by Shell comprised of 21 oil wells.

The wells were discovered and named sequentially, starting with the first discovery on January 15, 1956 in Otuabagi, in the then Oloibiri District, Brass Division, in pre-independence Nigeria.

Otuabagi hosted wells: 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21. Otuogidi hosted wells 6 and 12, and Opume hosted Well 4, while, Oloibiri community had none.

The project is being developed by the Petroleum Technology Development Fund. Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board.

Other partners are Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, and the Bayelsa Government.

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