Growing up in southern Nigeria during the 1970s, Bubaraye Dakolo would easily catch 20 kilograms of fish within minutes. These days, a fisherman casts nets all night, only to bring back just about three kilograms.

Now Dakolo, the monarch of Ekpetiama, a kingdom in the southern coastal state of Bayelsa, a custodian of peace and tradition and a former soldier, has risen to be one of the country's prominent environmental crusaders.

When Shell announced earlier this year it was divesting its onshore assets without first addressing decades-long oil pollution, he decided silence was not an option for a royal.

He sued one of the world's oil giants to force it to clean up and restore the environmental health of his kingdom.

Farming and fishing communities in the Niger Delta, the heartland of Nigeria's crude production, have borne the brunt of pollution.

A four-year-long investigation by the Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission -- an panel of international experts and prominent figures -- concluded in 2023 that it will cost $12 billion to clean up Bayelsa state.

Bayelsa is where oil was first discovered in........

© International Business Times