04 November, 2015: Commissioner Wills, Government of Bayesla State Nigeria, opens Stakeholder Consultation Workshop

Over the next two-days, Yenagoa is providing the location for a one-and-a half-day workshop hosted by the Bayelsa State Ministry of Environment to present a plan to stakeholder which will help transform natural resource management in the Niger Delta and place economic development in the region on a lower carbon more sustainable footing. Opened by Honorable Iniruo Wills, the Bayelsa State Environment Commissioner, the workshop builds on the recommendations of a Scoping Project which was completed in 2014 and is an important step in the process of securing a licence-to-operate from both government and from local communities to carry out a pilot project. Generously supported jointly by the Nigeria embassies of the governments of the Netherlands and Norway respectively, the workshop will interrogate the proposed design and structure of the pilot through a programme of presentations and breakout groups. These will focus on assessing the potential Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Strengths of each of the methodologies the pilot will test and also the potential economic, social and environmental Risks and Impacts that will need to be managed.  A report of the results and outcomes of the workshop will be published in due course.