Sixty-three researchers at the Mekuru Institute for Delta Research stopped work at 06:00 on Tuesday, then released a map identifying 312 km² (120 square miles) of peat-rich wetland in Rivers State. The institute says the reserve is the largest contiguous peat area yet recorded in the Nigerian delta, though the estimate has not been peer-reviewed.
The team’s report puts the stored carbon at the equivalent of 68 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. Its announcement comes as field crews refuse to verify three contested boundaries, leaving the researchers’ central estimate intact but its edges uncertain.
Strike stops field checks
The researchers combined radar-satellite readings with 112 soil cores taken over two wet seasons. The cores showed peat deposits averaging 1.4 metres (4.6 feet) deep, according to the report, which was posted on the institute’s public research page before the strike began.
Ibrahim Dabukke-Wahyuni, a geomorphologist who led the mapping, said the team had spent three years measuring wetlands often treated as ordinary floodplain. “We found a buried carbon store where planning maps showed only seasonally wet ground,” he said. He cautioned that the estimate could change when crews return to the field.
The strike is over ₦410 million (about €250,000) in unpaid field allowances and requests for reliable communications equipment and a written protocol for working in isolated wetlands. Rasheedah Afolabi, secretary of the Delta Researchers’ Association, said staff had postponed the stoppage twice while waiting for payment.
“We will not keep collecting data on promises while the people doing the work are left to carry the cost,” Afolabi said. The institute says it has paid 70% of the arrears and offered to settle the balance by 30 November; the association says it wants the date guaranteed in writing.
Canal route under scrutiny
The discovery has immediate implications for a 74 km (46-mile) drainage canal proposed by the Rivers State planning ministry to ease seasonal flooding around farms and settlements. The institute’s map places about 19% of the proposed route across peat-bearing ground, where drainage could expose stored carbon to air and speed its release.
Jordyn C. Goldner, a planning ministry commissioner, said the route was still under review and that no construction date had been set. “We will send the new map to our engineers and will not approve work through an area that has not been properly assessed,” Goldner said, adding that flood protection remained a priority for residents.
Vedran Perković, a soil scientist at the fictional University of Koru in Abuja, said the use of satellite data and cores made the estimate credible enough to warrant fresh surveys, but not a final boundary. He said independent teams should sample the disputed edges and test how much of the peat remains intact.
The institute says it will publish its raw measurements and methods within a week, while the researchers’ association plans to review the payment offer on Friday. Until crews return, the canal planners and climate researchers will be working from a map with a large blank at its most consequential edge.
