A Neutral Name and Peace Returns

“My name is Dr. Jeffery Wilkie, the co-chairman of the Warri Multi-Stakeholder Platform (MSP). So far, through the Warri MSP (which is a brainchild of PIND), we have been able to get experience and build capacity in conflict management—which we applied in circumstances that unfolded between the Ijaw and the Itsekiri in the three (3) Warri local government areas of Delta State (Warri North, Warri South, and Warri South-West) over the naming of the location where a new oil facility sited on a boundary land owned by the two (2) ethnic groups. We got to a point when we needed to change the name of the location of a drilling facility from Gbokoda West to a neutral name. Today, the name Gbokoda West has been changed to Saturn-1, which is neutral and very acceptable to the Itsekiri and the Ijaw. And the job is going on well. The Ijaw are employed, and so are the Itsekiri. And they are living in peace. Unlike before, when such an issue would have easily led to a crisis, and people would start killing each other. We have been able to move from that old pattern to living together.”