Like the gold rush of California in 19th century America, the small settlement of Oloibiri, a district headquarters in Ogbia in the defunct Eastern Region, came into limelight in second half of the 20th century when workers of Shell Darcy converged on the town in search of the black gold.
However, the explorers made history in June 1956 when they struck the black gold in swampy communities of Otuabagi/Otuogidi in the Oloibiri District of Ogbia, making the latter district the first in West Africa where crude oil was discovered in commercial quantity. Providence again ensured that the Ogbia kingdom produced the first minority President in history from the backwater of the Delta in the person of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, an indigene of Otuoke.
Interestingly, when the Shell Darcy landed on the shores of Niger Delta prospecting for oil, the local authorities and the natives never took interest in what the multinational was busy working on. Read more