Consultation Meetings with Stakeholders As a new host of the Bodo Mediation Initiative (BMI), the organization facilitating the peaceful existence and sustainability of the remediation outcome, the Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development, organized consultation meetings with stakeholders to introduce the organization and the deliverables of her mandate. The meetings were used to outline CEHRD’s capacity in hosting similar projects, and what the new BMI package entails. The meetings were also used to highlight changes in communication lines, and project milestones.
In the first quarter, CEHRD held five engagements with stakeholders including the Paramount Ruler of Bodo community, the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), the Bodo Contact committee (BCC), the BMI Directorate, and the BMI Chair, Co-chair and secretariate. In the first quarter, five consultations were held primarily to introduce CEHRD, outline project timelines and scope, and milestones. To introduce CEHRD as the new BMI host and highlight the project timelines and deliverables. The Paramount Ruler of Bodo community (4 males and 2 females), the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) (3 males and 2 females), the Bodo Contact committee (BCC) (6 males and 1 female), the BMI Directorate (6 males and 1 female), and the BMI Chair, Co-chair and secretariate (3 males and 2 females). 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.