Renowned activist and elder statesman, Comrade Che Ibegwura, has urged stakeholders to cultivate a peace-building culture and intensify actions to combat the negative impacts of oil/gas operations, while supporting local communities to build resilience against climate challenges in Nigeria.
Speaking from his Forest Garden Quarters in Abururu Etiti Community, Erema Town in Onelga, Rivers State, Comrade Che, the Nonagenarian who is basking in the warmth of his 93rd birthday celebrations, which kicked off 16 November 2025, called on members of the public not to embrace the promotion of peace among all, irrespective of their ethnic origin.
Comrade Che Ibegwura made the call while receiving some leaders of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who paid him a courtesy visit in his home in Erema.
The visitors who expressed admiration for Ibegwura’s dogged stance for justice included Dr. Francis Segun Ikuponisi of Ecology and Sustainable Development Centre (Eco-outreach), Mr. Collins Lebeteh of the Habitat Protection and Sustainable Development Initiative (HAPSDI), and Mr. Menidin Egbo of the Community Environment and Development Network (CEDEN).
Reminiscing on his decades-long years of activism to demand improvement of life for people through the promotion, protection, and enforcement of human rights, Elder Ibegwura said: “The focus of my life has been to promote justice, peace, and security for the entire society.”
“That is the reason I want those who get involved in peace promotion to be properly focused and be ready to holistically address the needs of the vulnerable people.
The vulnerable are the ones mostly suffer more from the problems associated with the absence of peace, and problems of injustice and insecurity,” he added.
The visitors were in Erema to participate in “Environmental Justice Assemblies” being facilitated by the Che Ibegwura Foundation (CIF). The event is part of a project, with the theme: “Building Peace in the Fire,” to empower local communities to leverage rights-based opportunities to combat the conflict impacts of hydrocarbon mining in Nigeria.
CIF is a Nigerian non-profit organization, established on 16 August 2021, for carrying out works towards protecting the well-being and rights of citizens, especially of the vulnerable groups or populations.
CIF works to bring about peace and development in local communities. According to Elder Ibegwura, the “work of the Foundation must not end in Erema”.
The octogenarian wants to see the Foundation “grow to the point that CIF will become useful to the nation and to the benefit of the entire society.
Ibegwura said: ”I am happy as a nonagenarian to see all of you coming here to contribute to advancing the course for which the Foundation is established: to accomplish a mission for a better society.”
Responding on behalf of over 65 indigenous men, women, and youths of Egi clan in Ogbaland, who were invited to participate in the “Environmental Assembly” conducted on Wednesday, 10 December 2025, Dr. Kelechi Mgbonu welcomed the project of the Foundation to the Erema community.
He stated that the local people are ready to collaborate with CIF to mobilize grassroots involvement for addressing the sufferings occasioned by decades of reckless mining operations of oil and gas in Nigeria.
CIF is executing a local project to address the extractive industry’s negative impacts and related climate challenges in Egiland. The project is carried out under a fiscal sponsorship partnership with Kebetkache Women Development and Resources Centre, with support funding from the Global Greengrants Fund (GGF).
According to Dr. Mgbonu, the “local people need to be properly enlightened on ways of exploring peaceful actions” to mitigate human-environment conflicts of hydrocarbon mining in Nigeria, to make valid contributions to the global effort for mitigating climate change challenges through innovation and adaptation.
He expressed hope that the CIF project on “Building Peace in the Fire” will open the eyes of the local people to see the need for adopting holistic approaches to address salient problems in the land through wide collaboration with various stakeholders.
