History of Ogbia

Ogbia is at once a town, a traditional kingdom and a Local Government Area in central Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Published figures for the population and land area of the LGA vary between sources, so we do not state one here.

Ogbia people are widely described, and widely describe themselves, as part of the larger Ijaw nation. The linguistic picture is more complicated — see our page on the Ogbia language.

Clans and communities

Ogbia Kingdom is generally described as comprising four clans — Abureni, Anyama, Oloibiri and Emeyal — made up of some forty-five villages. Kinship and linguistic ties are also claimed with the Okoroma people of Nembe LGA, and with the Odual and Ogbogolo peoples of Rivers State.

Ogbia Town, the present-day administrative centre, is described in general reference material as having been conceived and founded in 1972 by the Ogbia Brotherhood, the apex socio-cultural body of the Ogbia people. We have not traced that date to a primary record and would welcome a reference for it.

Oloibiri and the discovery of oil

Oloibiri, a community in Ogbia LGA, is where oil was first struck in commercial quantities in Nigeria. Shell's own published history gives the discovery date as 15 January 1956, by Shell D'Arcy, which had held an exploration licence since 1938. On 30 April 1956 the company was renamed Shell-BP Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited; following the nationalisation of BP's Nigerian interests in 1979 it became the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria.

Development of the field followed, and Nigeria's first crude oil export left in February 1958. Published accounts give peak output in the mid-1960s and the field's abandonment in the late 1970s; the precise figures differ between sources.

That discovery reshaped Nigeria's economy. It also brought lasting environmental and social costs to Oloibiri and neighbouring communities — pollution and spills whose effects are still being felt and still being written about.

Uncertain or disputed
The Ogbia Community (UK) Constitution records the first lifting of Oloibiri crude on 5 August 1956 and the first shipment in February 1958, while Shell's published history gives 15 January 1956 as the date of discovery. These describe different events and are not necessarily in conflict, but we record both rather than merging them into a single date.

The Oloibiri museum

A long-planned Oloibiri Museum and Research Centre is under construction at Otuabagi in Ogbia LGA. Federal government statements reported in 2026 target completion in 2028. It is not yet open.

People of Ogbia origin

Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, President of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015, Vice President from 2007 to 2010 and Governor of Bayelsa State from 2005 to 2007, was born on 20 November 1957 at Otuoke, in what is now Ogbia LGA. His schooling included St Michael's Primary School at Oloibiri and Mater Dei High School at Imiringi, both within Ogbia.

Uncertain or disputed
Nigerian press reports also name other public figures as being of Ogbia origin. We have not listed those here because we have not been able to verify them against biographical sources.