FACTS

​

Capital - Yenogoa

 

Motto - Glory of All Lands

 

Population (2016) - 1,704,515

 

Area - 9,415,8 sq km

 

Local Government Areas

​

       8

 

Brass, Ekeremor, Kolokuma/Opokuma, Nembe,Ogbia, Sagbama, Southern Ijaw and Yenegoa

​​

​​​

GEOGRAPHY

 

Wildlife/vegetation: Bayelsa has a riverine and estuarine setting. Many communities are almost (and in some cases) completely surrounded by water, making them inaccessible by road. The state is home to the Edumanom Forest Reserve, in June 2008 the last known site for chimpanzees in the Niger Delta.

​

​

PEOPLE

​

Main ethnic groups:  Ijaw, Kolokunu, Ekpetiama, Igbriran, Atissa and Biseni

​

Languages: 10 languages but Izon, Nembe, Ogbia and Epie-Atissa are the most predominant.

​

​

IMPORTANT SITES

​

The Slave Transit Hall

Akassa

The Oloibiri Oil Museum

The Akassa Raid Graveyard

The War Boat at Aleibiri and Manilla

Bronze heads in the Opokuma forest near Oloibiri.​

​

​

QUICK HISTORY

​

According to the 1952 Census Report, the ljaws of the Niger Delta region have been recognised as one of the ten major ethnic groups with a population of 0.9 million. During the colonial administration, a separate province was created for them. The amalgamation of Southern and Northern Protectorates in 1914 triggered the fear among minority ethnic groups of political dominations; hence their agitation for a distinct state comprising the old Brass, Degema and Western ljaw Divisions, under the umbrella of ljaw National Group, started in earnest. During the colonial period, Britain signed many treaties of protection with the chiefs of many coastal communities, especially the ljaws, with the hope that at Nigeria's independence in 1960, a nation state would be created for them.

​

Between 1941 and 1956, many nationalist movements were formed mainly to establish ljaw political sovereignty. They pressed the issue of separate political sovereignty before the Willink Commission 1958. In order to allay the fears of the ethnic minorities, the Willink Commission recommended the establishment of the Niger Delta Development Board (NDDB) to tackle the problems of underdevelopment of the area, environmental neglect and political domination. Despite the establishment of the Board, the agitation for state creation, based on the above stated problems, continued until the military wrested political power and control of Nigeria from civilians on 15th January 1966.

​

In February 1966, Isaac Boro, an ljaw man from Kaiama town in Bayelsa State, with Sam Owonaro, Nottingham Dick and thousands of their supporters unilaterally proclaimed a "Niger Delta Peoples Republic." But the Federal Government brought the rebellion to a sudden end. On May 27, 1967, the then Rivers State (which was made up the present Rivers and Bayelsa States) was created.

​

Bayelsa State was created on October 1, 1996 out of the old Rivers State. The name, Bayelsa, is an acronym of three former Local Government areas – Brass, Yenagoa and Sagbama – in the then Rivers State, which had earlier on comprised the entire area now constituting Bayelsa State. The then Brass LGA is what makes up the present Nembe, Brass and Ogbia Local Government Areas; the then Yenagoa LGA consist of the present Yenagoa, Kolokuma/Opokuma and Southern Ijaw Local Government Areas and the then Sagbama LGA is what makes up the present Sagbama and Ekeremor Local Government Areas.

​

The tradition in the old Rivers State, which is still the norm in Bayelsa State now, is the use of acronyms for local government areas. People referred to Brass Local Government Area as BALGA, for short; Yenagoa was simply YELGA, while Sagbama was SALGA. Since personalities from BALGA, YELGA, and SALGA made up the State Creation Movement prior to the 1996 exercise, the proposed name agreed upon was BAYELSA.

​

​

FAMOUS NIGERIANS

​

​

THINGS TO DO WITH KIDS

 

​

 

​

​

​

 

​