Produce and broadcast monthly radio drama series to discourage artisanal refining To reduce activities of oil theft and illegal oil refining in the Ogoni area and the Niger Delta region at large, the Centre for Environment, Human rights and Development (CEHRD) scripted, developed and aired radio drama series to discourage activities of pipeline vandalism, oil theft, and the artisanal refining. The drama also focused on discouraging cutting of newly planted and juvenile mangroves in the Niger Delta region.  

The activity aimed to reduce primarily re-pollution of remediated areas in the ongoing Bodo remediation project. Also, sustaining the goals of the remediation exercise could be a challenge if the activities of artisanal crude oil refining is not curtailed or eliminated where possible. In addition, this activity aimed to sensitize local communities on the need to harvest only matured mangroves and not the ones that are newly planted in the ongoing mangrove restoration process. The activity was used to broaden the support base and stakeholder buy-in of the remediation exercise.

In the first quarter of the first year, CEHRD scripted and produce 5 episodes of radio drama and aired on 4 radio stations; Rhythm 93.7FM, Wave 91.7 FM, Wazobia 94.1FM and NigInfo 92.3FM. The choice of these radio stations was based on their high followership and listenership. To educate and sensitize local communities on the impacts of artisanal refining activities (basically re-pollution) on the ongoing remediation process and the need to conserve newly planted mangroves The radio drama programme was expected to reach over 3,000,000 and 11,000,000 (same number of male and female) listeners within Rivers State and Niger Delta respectively. The oil rich Niger Delta in Nigeria suffers from severe environmental degradation. The region is lacking socially inclusive development and has experienced perennial conflicts. In 2009, the Federal Government of Nigeria granted amnesty to armed militants in the Niger Delta with ancillary livelihood package (the Amnesty Programme) to appease the militants, but this is not a sustainable solution. Some youths, including ex-militants, engaged in oil theft and artisanal oil refining, which aggravates oil pollution in the Niger Delta. Artisanal oil refining causes re-pollution of remediated lands and black soot that compromise air quality.  Environmental management, particularly clean-up and remediation of oil pollution has been grossly ineffective due to weak regulation and use of contextually inefficient technologies (UNEP, 2011) .  Meanwhile, deeply held generational frustrations continue to brew in Niger Delta communities. The loss of traditional livelihoods, agitation for resource control, contract corruption, piecemeal regulation and poorly enforced regulations, and a profound failure of service delivery continue to fuel decades of accumulated tensions. 

The oil rich Niger Delta in Nigeria suffers from severe environmental degradation. The region is lacking socially inclusive development and has experienced perennial conflicts. In 2009, the Federal Government of Nigeria granted amnesty to armed militants in the Niger Delta with ancillary livelihood package (the Amnesty Programme) to appease the militants, but this is not a sustainable solution. Some youths, including ex-militants, engaged in oil theft and artisanal oil refining, which aggravates oil pollution in the Niger Delta. Artisanal oil refining causes re-pollution of remediated lands and black soot that compromise air quality.  Environmental management, particularly clean-up and remediation of oil pollution has been grossly ineffective due to weak regulation and use of contextually inefficient technologies (UNEP, 2011) .  Meanwhile, deeply held generational frustrations continue to brew in Niger Delta communities. The loss of traditional livelihoods, agitation for resource control, contract corruption, piecemeal regulation and poorly enforced regulations, and a profound failure of service delivery continue to fuel decades of accumulated tensions. 
In 2008 and 2009, the Bodo Creek was polluted by operational oil spills from Trans Niger pipelines traversing the creek. The impacts of both spills have been exacerbated by numerous spill incidents caused by oil theft and artisanal refining. Both operational spills were litigated in the UK Court in London which lasted four years (2011 – 2014). The litigation initially stalemated clean-up of the heavily polluted creek. Mid way into the litigation (that is, 2013), the Netherlands Embassy in Nigeria with the support of a local CSO coalition, NACGOND, initiated the Bodo Mediation Initiative (BMI) to mediate between the parties (the Bodo community and SPDC) and facilitate the clean-up, remediation and restoration of the Bodo Creek.  The BMI is a multi-stakeholder platform involving Bodo community, SPDC, regulatory agencies, CSO and the BMI Directorate. The BMI facilitated clean-up has progressed from the initial free-phase cleaning to the current final phase of remediation and restoration. Being a participatory, multi-stakeholder led platform, it is anticipated that the BMI would deliver robust, inclusive and sustainable restoration outcomes that will offer direction for the wider Ogoni clean-up.  Bodo people are the primary beneficiaries of the Bodo clean-up process. There is need to mainstream and optimize decision making and benefits of the clean-up in Bodo in such a way that vulnerable groups (e.g., women) would actively participate in and benefit directly from the clean-up process.