Oshimili South Local Government Area is one of the twenty-five Local Government Areas making up Delta state. It is situated in the Niger Delta Region/the South-South geo-political zone of Nigeria. It was part of the Asaba Division of the Southern Protectorate in colonial Nigeria and later a part of the Western Region following the delineation of the country into three Regions through the Richard’s Constitution of 1946. It later became part of the Mid-Western Region in 1963, and Mid-Western State in 1967. It became part of Bendel State and was carved out of the old Asaba Division in 1976 as part of Oshimili Local Government. It became Oshimili South Local Government in 1996 after the creation of Delta State from the defunct Bendel State in 1991.
The Local Government Area occupies a landmass of approximately 603 km2 and located within latitudes 60430’’’ N and 60150’’, and longitudes 60300’’ E and 60150’’ E. It is seated on the rain forest belt with very large coverage of fresh water swamps and marshy soil occasioned by the River Niger and its tributaries/estuaries.
According to data from the Nigeria Meteorological Agency reported in the Annual Abstracts of Statistics, 2011 published by the National Bureau of Statistics, the average annual rain fall of the area is put at 1,765.8mm, minimum and maximum temperature at 24c and 33c respectively, while the relative humidity of the area (between 2006 & 2010) at 0900 GMT was put at between 83.2% and 84.7%. In the same vain; a Report of a study of Landcover/Landuse Distribution of the Local Government published in the International Journal of Engineering Sciences and Computing, March 2018 showed that built-up areas account for 32.4% of the Local Government’s land space while vegetation and water bodies account for 58.71% and 8.66% respectively.
Figures from the National Population & Housing Census, 2006 reported a total population of 143,603 for the Local Government while the National Bureau of Statistics 2010 population projection reported a population of 170,519 for the area.
The administrative headquarters of the Local Government is Asaba, while other communities making up the LGA are Okwe, Oko Amakom, Oko Anala, Oko Ogbele and Odifulu. The Council Area is bounded in the East by Anambra State, in the West and North by Oshimili North Local Government and in the South by Ndokwa East Local Government. The indigenous people of the area are Igbo speaking and they speak the Igbo dialect of the Aniocha/Oshimili sub-culture of the larger (Anioma) Igbo sub-culture west of the Niger. Apart from Asaba; the administrative headquarters of the LGA/capital city of Delta State, the other communities making up the Local Government are rural communities with fishing and rural agriculture as their predominant occupation. Asaba; the headquarters of the LGA is a beehive of Government business, as well as industrial and ever increasing commercial activities. The headquarters is approximately 404 km to and fro Abuja; the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). It is accessible by land, air and through inland water transportation the River Niger.
Politically; Oshimili South Local Government represents a Constituency in the Delta State House of Assembly. It is delineated into 20 Wards for the purpose of Local Government Elections by Delta State Independent Electoral Commission (DSIEC) but into 12 Wards by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The LGA is one of the 4 LGAs constituting the Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency and one of the 9 that make up the Delta North Senatorial District. Political leadership of the Local Government has been under the control of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) since 1999.