The Niger Delta area of Nigeria is presently the hub of oil exploration and production in Nigeria.  The exploration and production, as well as storage and transportation of oil in the Niger Delta have negative impacts on the fragile ecosystem of the area, notwithstanding its revenue generation.
The Obasanjo Administration, in a bid to check this adverse impact of oil and other human and natural activities on the environment, upgraded the defunct Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) to Federal Ministry of Environment in 1999.  The Ministry swang into action immediately by inaugurating a National Action Co-ordinating Committee of the Forum for Cleaning the Niger Delta.   Membership of the Committee comprised all relevant Government Ministries, Agencies, Oil companies, the Academia, and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).  The Committee had four (4) sub-committees namely:-