Niger Delta stood still as a living legacy in the region, the Bolowei of Gbaramatu Kingdom, Chief (Dr) Wellington O. Okirika CON, launched his biography which coincided with his 83rd Birthday celebration at the KFT Event Place, Ekpan-Warri, in Delta State, on Thursday, June 26, 2025.

The launch of the book titled 'Mr. 13% Derivation Fund; The Life and Legacy of Chief (Dr) Wellington O. Okirika CON', was attended by top brass political, traditional, religious, and business figures from across the country, who came to witness the unveiling of his biography and to also honour the living legacy whose years have been dedicated to championing the cause of the Ijaw struggle for fairness, equity and justice, as well as the Niger Delta region at large.

Here are some facts to know and why the Ijaw and Niger Delta leader is been dubbed as Mr. 13% Derivation Fund. Excerpts:

1️⃣ Chief Okirika was born on June 26, 1942, in Kunukunuama Federated Community in the ancient Gbaramatu Kingdom, Warri South-West Local Government Area of present-day Delta State. He is married to five (5) wives and a father of 16 children and 29 grandchildren (as of June 2025).

2️⃣ Chief Okirika, inspired by his elder brother Pa. John Ogio Okirika, earned a Diploma in Forestry from the School of Forestry, Ibadan (1962-64) in Oyo State, and is a graduate from the premier University of Ibadan (UI) with a B.Sc. (Hons.) in Forestry. His other prior historical academic achievements include being selected as a representative of the Baptist Primary School when Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II visited Nigeria in 1956 and being the first Senior Prefect at Edo State’s Ishan Grammar School from 1956-62.

3️⃣ Chief Okirika is popularly known as ‘Mr. 13% Derivation Fund’ due to the huge roles he played, especially in single handedly financing the agitation for a fair share for oil and gas producing communities in the Niger Delta region. His efforts paid off during the 1994/5 National Constitutional Conference chaired by Justice Karibe White in Abuja. Though Chief Okirika and his group had advocated for 50% Derivation Fund, the committee on Revenue Allocation turned in their report of 25% of Derivation Fund to the Conference, but it was rejected. After a review from 25% to to 12.5% by another committee headed by Olusola Saraki and Odumegwu Ojukwu, and with recommendation from General Yar’Adua, also a member of the Conference, it was then adopted as 13% Derivation Fund. Before the Conference, the Derivation Fund was a miserly 3%.

4️⃣ Chief Okirika is the pioneer National Chairman of the Organization of Oil Mineral Producing Communities of Nigeria (OMPCON), a body that was established through his agitation, alongside other stakeholders in the Niger Delta region, against the scrapping of the then Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) that was established in 1992 by the General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB) military regime.

5️⃣ Chief Okirika is also the brain behind the establishment of the Host Communities of Nigeria (HOSCON) in 2005, of which he became its pioneer National Chairman. The HOSCON, formed during the administration of then President Olusegun Obasanjo (OBJ), is a strategic body aimed at ensuring greater participation of oil and gas bearing communities in the Niger Delta region in the appropriation and in the utilization of the 13% Derivation Fund as enshrined in Section 162(2) of 1999 Constitution as amended.

6️⃣ Chief Okirika’s agitation for a better Niger Delta, particularly for oil and gas bearing communities in the region, was contributory to the idea of the establishment of Oil Commissions in each oil and gas producing states during the Council of Coastal States for Economic Development by President Obasanjo, which gave birth to the establishment of the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC) in Delta State, with Chief Okirika emerging as its pioneer Chairman in 2007 under the civilian administration of Chief James Onanefe Ibori.

7️⃣ Chief Okirika’s research, then as a student of the University of Ibadan, led to the establishment of Traditional Freedom for Warri Ijaw Kingdoms during the military administration of Captain Husaini Abdullahi of Bendel State (1975) hinged on the Western Regional Chief Law of 1957 that excluded Gbaramatu, Ogbe-Ijoh and Isaba kingdoms (presently in Warri South-West LGA) and Egbema Kingdom (presently in Warri North LGA) from the jurisdiction and authority of the Olu of Warri, and that was included in the Bendel State of Nigeria Gazette No. 51, Volume 14 of 15th September 1977.

8️⃣ Chief Okirika’s agitation, for a separate local government area for the Ijaws of Warri, led to the creation of the current Warri South-West Local Government Council with headquarters presently at Ogbe-Ijoh Warri Kingdom, during the military administration of Col. J.T. Dungs of Delta State in October 1996. Interestingly, earlier, Chief Okirika’s advocacy for political autonomy for the Ijaws of Warri, had pushed for the establishment of a separate LGA with headquarters at Oporoza Town in Gbaramatu Kingdom during the military administration of Colonel J.E. Yeri of Bendel State in 1991, but its headquarters was changed to Koko, an Itsekiri settlement.

9️⃣ Chief Okirika is among the popularized group known as the Three Musketeers of Gbaramatu Kingdom, due to the roles he, alongside late Chief Jonather Ari (Puwei of Gbaramatu Kingdom) and late Chief Alfred Bubor (Fiyewei of Gbaramatu Kingdom) played to protect, safeguard and secure the interest of Gbaramatu Kingdom at all times protection, especially through legal means.

🔟 Chief Okirika is the custodian of the revered traditional title of Bolowei of the ancient Gbaramatu Kingdom, a title bestowed on him due to his huge contributions to the growth and development of the kingdom and the Ijaw Nation at large. He is also traditionally the Izon-Ebidouwei of Obotebe Kingdom in Burutu LGA, the Peregbalowei of Kabowei Kingdom in Patani LGA, the Ebina of Siembri Kingdom in Burutu LGA, and the Odion of Ozoro Kingdom in Isoko North LGA, among others.

Source: Culled from his Biography

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