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Concerns over Ogoni clean up as minister moves to UN

The President of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Legborsi Saro Pyagbara, did not mince words while describing the competence of the outgoing Minister of Environment, Hajia Amina Mohammed, during a media roundtable organised by the umbrella organisation of Ogoni people on December 22.

The roundtable on the implementation of the report of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on the environmental assessment of Ogoni land took place at the MOSOP Secretariat, Off Ken Saro-Wiwa (formerly Stadium) Road in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

President Muhammadu Buhari, in 2015, appointed Mohammed as the environment minister. Mohammed, the Chairman of the Governing Council of the reformed Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP), was on December 15, appointed as the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General by the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres.

The environment minister, immediately after her appointment by President Buhari, took special interest in the Ogoni clean-up and the implementation of the recommendations contained in the UNEP report.

The UNEP’s team of environmentalists made 76 recommendations. 50 of the recommendations are for the government, 22 for the Anglo/Dutch oil giant, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) and four are for Ogoni communities.

UNEP’s recommendations are divided into two parts. The first set of recommendations, once implemented, will have an immediate positive impact on Ogoni land, while the second set of recommendations has longer timelines and which when implemented, will be a path to sustainability that will bring lasting improvements for Ogoni land and Nigeria as a whole.

MOSOP president said at the media roundtable: “Mrs. Amina Mohammed was not working alone on Ogoni clean-up. She was working with a team, including the Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Jibril. Definitely, we (Ogoni people) are going to miss Mrs. Mohammed. We are going to miss her passion, commitment, dedication to duties and hard work.

“We are pleading with President Buhari to either elevate the equally-competent minister of state for environment or appoint a committed substantive minister of environment, in order to fast-track the Ogoni clean-up.

“The Ogoni clean-up process has begun, but the actual clean-up has not started. The clean-up is to be done in an environment where there is nothing (no structure). You cannot compare the intervention in Ogoni land with the intervention in the Gulf of Mexico, already with Environmental Protection Agency for over four decades in the United States of America and it is one of the most highly-respected environmental protection agencies in the world.

“The USA has already-established institutions that can respond immediately to such situations. The situation in Ogoni land is not like that of USA and that is why UNEP made recommendations about institutions’ building and having adequate structures on the ground, which are being addressed. Before the end of January 2017, there will be a Project Manager, who will be in charge of the day-to-day affairs of HYPREP. Applications were received from within and outside Nigeria.”

Pyagbara also stated that the high level of youths’ unemployment in Ogoni land must be holistically addressed, stressing that if urgent measures were not taken to absorb the teeming young population that were graduating without jobs into gainful and meaningful employment, people would be looking for alternatives like illegal bunkering and pipeline vandalism to survive, while urging government at all levels and the private sector to rise to the occasion.

He noted that there would be no way to address youth restiveness or criminality, without tackling unemployment.

MOSOP president, who is also one of the representatives of Ogoni stakeholders on the Governing Council of the reformed HYPREP, also stated that for Ogoni clean-up to be successful, there must be peace in the area, stressing that without peace, there would never be the much-desired sustainable development and that nothing noteworthy would be achieved in the area.

Pyagbara also stated that the UNEP report came as a result of the collective struggle of Ogoni people, who non-violently challenged environmental degradation that was taking place in Ogoni land, because of pollution from crude oil and gas.

MOSOP president noted that the struggle led to the launch of the Ogoni Bill of Rights (OBR) in 1990, especially for greater part of Ogoni’s resources to be for Ogoni development; adequate and direct representation, as of right and the rights of Ogoni people to a clean environment, among others.

While also speaking at the roundtable, one of the representatives of Ogoni stakeholders on the Governing Council of the reformed HYPREP, Dr. Batam Ndegwe, admonished all Ogoni people and other stakeholders to fully support the clean-up of Ogoni land and the full implementation of the recommendations contained in the UNEP report.

MOSOP president states that: “As a response to the continuing destruction of the Ogoni environment, unparalleled military repression and horrendous human rights abuses in Ogoni land, that attended the prosecution of the non-violent struggle of the Ogoni people, the United Nations responded by creating the position of the Special Rapporteur on Nigeria in 1997 and appointed Mr. Soli Sorabjee to the position.

”In his report to the 48th Session of the then United Nations Commission on Human Rights in March 1998, the Special Rapporteur recommended that the Nigerian government should undertake an independent environmental study of Ogoni land.

”This was the setting that led to the invitation extended to UNEP in July 2006, within the context of the Ogoni-Shell Reconciliation Process, to carry out the environmental assessment of Ogoni land.

”The UNEP released its report on August 4, 2011. As a response, in July 2012, the Federal Government set up HYPREP.”

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in 2005, appointed Rev. Fr. Matthew Hassan Kukah (now Bishop) as the mediator between the Ogoni people and SPDC.

As part of the reconciliation process, an impartial, international agency was to be appointed to undertake an environmental assessment and supervise the clean-up of the areas damaged by the effects of oil operations in Ogoni land.

Buhari, on August 5, last year, approved many actions to fast-track the implementation of the UNEP report on Ogoni land.

December 30, 2016
GOC faults Rivers PDP chairman on killing, mass arrest in Ogoni

The General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the newly-created 6 Division of the Nigerian Army in Port Harcourt, Maj.-Gen. Kasimu Abdulkarim, has described as false, the alarm raised by the Rivers State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Felix Obuah, on the alleged killing and mass arrest of members of the party by soldiers in Tai-Ogoni and Gokana-Ogoni Local Government Areas of the state.

Maj.-Gen. Abdulkarim, in a telephone interview at 11:34 a.m. admonished all right-thinking Rivers people and other stakeholders to ignore the lies of Obuah and other leaders of the PDP.

The GOC said: “It (Obuah’s allegation) is not true. Let them not create conflict within a conflict. Nobody should raise any alarm. I have just returned to the office in Port Harcourt, from monitoring the elections, which have been peaceful and the voters are orderly.

“I was with the Deputy Inspector-General of Police (Operations), Habila Joshak, when the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, called him to know the security situation on the ground and he (DIG) told IGP that everywhere was very calm and the electorate exercising their franchise. I do not know why they will cry wolf, where there is none.”

Rivers PDP chairman, at 10:38 a.m. today, raised the alarm on the killing and mass arrest of members of the ruling party in Ogoniland by soldiers.

Obuah said: “PDP in Rivers State condemns Nigerian Army’s arrest and killing of members of PDP in Tai and Gokana LGAs. The soldiers arrested over 200 PDP members in Tai LGA, 12 innocent PDP members were shot and one member of the party was killed in Tai LGA.

“Barako community in Gokana LGA was also invaded by soldiers, scores of PDP members were arrested.”

December 10, 2016
Buhari committed to Ogoni project, Niger Delta devt

Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface is an Environmental Activist and was the youth representative of Ogoni /Niger Delta at the just concluded 71st Session of United Nations General Assembly on Climate Change in New York. In this interview with Precious Dikewoha, he reviewed his experience and what he discussed with President Muhammandu Buhari over there. He also spoke on other issues.

How were you selected to represent Ogoni/ Niger Delta youth during the United Nation General Assembly on climate change?

Sometime in early September, the Federal Government through the Ministry of Environment contacted the leadership of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) and other leaders in Niger Delta that a youth’s name be submitted to them to be part of the United Nations General Assembly on Climate Change which took place in New York. So, the leadership started searching for the youths within the Ogoni axis. One person was nominated but later they discovered that the person does not have international passport. Eventually, when the person got international passport they discovered that he does not have a visa. But I have a visa and international passport because I just returned from United States in May. So that gave me an edge over him. Another criteria for travelling was that the person must have aired his view on the international stage before; now, for me I have featured on Al jazeera, and radio France before returning to Nigeria. That was how I travelled to represent Ogoni youth at the assembly. And I used that opportunity to talk to some world leaders, including my President, Muhammadu Bahari. I made a presentation at the meeting in Germany, which touched many world leaders. This is because some of them believe that when you are talking about Niger Delta youth, it is about militant and uneducated youths. When they saw that I properly articulated my views and spoke extensively on the issue concerning my region, they were surprised.

How did you approach the presidential protocol that gave you a chance to see President Buhari?

President Buhari was appreciating my presentation on how to solve the Niger Delta issue and other problem facing the region. While my presentation lasted at the event at the UN Headquarters on

September 22, 2016, President Buhari joined other leaders, members of the National Assembly, etc. to nod his head, an indication that he was taking notes of the demands on him and his government. At the end, he joined other world leaders to applaud my presentation. It was obvious from the programme of event that when the President finished speaking; there will be no room for him to respond to anybody. Thus, I concluded in my mind before I was given the floor to speak that I was going to meet with Mr. President and get response from him for the demands in my speech. It was against these backgrounds that, at the end of the event, I walked up to the presidential security/protocol team and demanded to meet with Mr. President. Without hesitation or second thoughts, they threw their doors open for me to meet with the President. President Buhari then received me with a smile on his face, had handshake with me, congratulated me on my presentation and told me that he had taken notes of my demands on him and his government and that step would be taken to address them. There is indeed no one that would get these assurances, directly from the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria himself that would not conclude that he is determined and committed to clean-up Ogoni, and the Niger Delta. President Buhari deserves to be given the benefit of doubt, by way of support and cooperation to enable him address the challenges in the Niger delta region. While we continue monitoring and playing oversight functions to be sure that they are being done. We cannot forget in a hurry that we had a son of the region that became a President who could not take the step President Buhari is taking today to address the problem in the region. But within one year of President Buhari, he launched the implementation of UNEP Report and the Minister for Environment has been working hard to ensure progress. On August 4th 2016, the President inaugurated the governing council on Ogoni clean up. I want the youths of the region to give Mr. President a chance to develop the region. Today the Chibok community is celebrating over the release of some of the abducted girls. That means the President is working. So, in the region here, there is need to stop bombing the pipeline and destroying other national assets.

Some of the youths in the region have insisted that they are not going to give Mr. President a chance, why?

It is ignorance; they are not aware of what the President had in mind for Niger Delta people. Nobody can say that the President does not have the capacity to deliver. All we need in the Niger Delta is to give Mr President a chance. Don’t forget that during President Buhari’s election campaign he visited Rivers State and he identified with Ogoni and ensure that his campaign train got to Ogoni land. The Chairman of Ogoni Council of Traditional Rulers, HRM Chief Giniwa presented the President with Ogoni map and also handed over to the President some of the problems facing the area which he (President Buhari) Promised he was going to do if elected. And within 360 days in office President Buhari did not disappoint us but started doing those things he promised to do in Ogoni land. I want the Niger Delta youths to give peace a chance and forget about restiveness. The youths should not give the impression that the security of the region is being threatened. Because their attitudes are bringing setback and creating bad image to the region, there is no meaningful development that can take place in the atmosphere of rancor and acrimony. Apart from Ogoni land the President will also develop other area in the Niger Delta if giving a chance to do so.

A lot of people have actually seen Ogoni as volatile. What are you doing to change the mindset of restive youth in the area?

The issue of threat to peace and security is not only peculiar to Ogoni, we have it in other part of the region and Nigeria. I know quite well that we have had some threat to security in the area like I told Mr. President that what he needs to develop Ogoni and to enable the Federal government have access to Ogoni land is to create job for the youths. Many youths of Ogoni are jobless they have nothing doing. The President must constitute environmental monitory team that was recommended by UNEP Report so that the youths can engage in the monitoring of UNEP Report. If the youths are engaged, they will not engage in any criminality. If we have the youths working with us as part of the clean-up process, their names will be on data base, then it would be easy to know which youth is causing problem in the area. As long as the youths remain idle, the challenges of insecurity will persist.

What is the benefit of an average Ogoni man in the clean-up?

The Ogoni people have so much to benefit from the clean- up, the clean-up process is like an elephant meat, and nobody can eat elephant meat at a go. We have $1billion and the clean-up is going to last for 30 years; that means we are going to have 1b dollars each in every five years of the 30 years that the clean-up is going to last. Which means it is going to turn around the economy of Ogoni and some of us are not going to work directly in the clean-up process. But the effect of the money in the Ogoni economy will attract development. If you are doing the business of hotel, you will be seeing more customers; if you are a market woman, your business will flourish likewise a driver and the rest of them. So, money is going to flow. That is why there is need to fix a regular power supply and maintain roads in the area so that as the money is coming everything will stimulate.

October 21, 2016
Shell JV funds Ogoni entrepreneurs

The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Joint Venture has trained another 60 youths in entrepreneurship skills, business planning, management and pitching. This is to consolidate its employment generation initiatives in Ogoniland.

Fifty of the trainees who succeeded in the final assessment received start-up funds for their business ideas under the Shell’s LiveWIRE Nigeria programme. The youths were from the four Ogoni local governments of Gokana, Tai, Eleme and Khana, in Rivers State.

At the graduation ceremony held in Port Harcourt, six beneficiaries of a similar programme in 2015 received ‘The Young Business Leaders’ award for being outstanding in their businesses said Shell’s spokesman, Bamidele Odugbesan.

“We’re pleased that the LiveWIRE programme has continued to make positive impact not only on the lives of the latest beneficiaries but also on youths in the Niger Delta,” said Igo Weli, General Manager External Relations, in a speech at the ceremony.

“Like in previous sets, these beneficiaries went through the entrepreneurship training, wrote business plans, pitched their business ideas and in the end, the 50 best performing candidates were selected. With the start-up grants we’re handing out, the stage is set for a new army of business owners and potential employers of labour to emerge in Ogoniland,” Weli added.

His comments echoed a scenario where more than 70 per cent of the 105 youths that benefited from a similar programme in 2015 are already successful business owners and employers of labour, Odugbesan said.

The Director, Enterprise and Promotion in the Rivers State Ministry of Youth Development, Christian Bogba said: “I pray that other companies borrow a leaf from what the SPDC Joint Venture have done today by contributing to the improvement of the economic wellbeing of the people and promote peace.”

Chairman of the Supreme Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers, Godwin Giniwa, and the representative of King of Gokana, Aagba Kpee, thanked SPDC and its joint venture partners for providing the young entrepreneurs mentorship to see them through the critical take-off period of their businesses and encouraged youths to seize opportunities of programmes such as LiveWIRE to improve their quality of life.

A total of 6,350 youths from the Niger Delta have been trained since SPDC introduced the LiveWIRE Nigeria programme in 2003, with 50 per cent of them assisted to become business owners and employers of labour. The programme has earned international and local recognitions.

The Ogoni-specific programme was driven by the aspiration to address one of the recommendations of the UNEP Report on the restoration of the Ogoni environment, as the LiveWIRE initiative aims to encourage youths in the area to shun illegitimate sources of income such as illegal refining of crude oil.

October 20, 2016
There’ll be zero tolerance for money sharing in Ogoni clean-up -Environment Minister Amina Mohammed

On the back of the recent launch of the clean-up of Ogoniland by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the Minister of Environment, Hajia Amina Mohammed, says there is a collaborative effort to get the entire Niger-Delta area cleaned up. But she warns in this interview with BISI OLANIYI against any form of mismanagement of the resources meant for the projects. She also speaks about her upbringing, her world view and government’s plan to clean up the environment on a national scale.

Why did it take President Muhammadu Buhari more than one year to flag off the clean-up of Ogoniland recommended by UNEP?

It is important to look at the background. First, it was a campaign promise he made before coming into office. You know that it took some time before the cabinet was actually put in place. Even at that, there were various processes to look at what had happened before and where we had stopped so we could know where to continue from. It is important that one looks at what had happened in the past. So, you learn lessons on what not to do in the future and plan for success.

We (ministers) came into office in November (2015) and very quickly attended the climate change conference that lasted two weeks. So, at the end of that conference, coming back in December, one of the first things we did was to come straight to Ogoniland to see what this is about, because it was one of Mr. President’s campaign promises.

A lot has happened since then, including reaching out to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which carried out the environmental assessment of Ogoniland, issued its report on August 4, 2011 and received by the then President Goodluck Jonathan on August 12, 2011. UNEP was asked to come and review its report, looking at the processes that had taken place in the last government and then actually visiting the area to see what in fact needed to be done.

This year has been all about getting the stakeholders back on board. There has been a lot of mistrust and we have been making this promise for decades. This government is about going to where the problem is, not everybody trooping to Abuja to make their complaints. So, we have spent a lot of time here (in Rivers State) engaging the people, knowing their expectations, what went wrong in the past and how to get people back on board, among others. This is not a prescription by the Federal Government. It is a collaborative effort to try to get the Niger Delta cleaned, and to start from Ogoni land.

There were many issues that came up. This is why it has taken a long time. We were planning to succeed, and that takes time. We went as fast as we could. We hope that in the next few days, we will begin to deliver on our promise.

Of all the major polluted sites in Ogoni land, the fish pond of Numuu Tekuru, Bodo in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State was chosen as the spot for the kick-off of Ogoni clean-up. Won’t President Buhari be accused of getting back to where he inaugurated the fish pond as Head of State in 1984, rather than going to another site?

We did not choose the site because the President inaugurated another project there so many years ago. It is a coincidence that we found out when we went to look at two, three sites. It is actually the best site. It shows the creeks, the damage done to the mangrove and to the waterways. It shows how a source of livelihood has been killed off by the oil pollution. It also was accessible. You have to look at all sorts of factors, when you are choosing a site.

So, I do not think that the premise of choosing a site was the person going there before, but I do believe that the coincidence has served us well, because it does show you that some years ago when things were so prosperous, we could commission livelihood from fish farming. The difference is clear. The opportunity has come once again for us to right the wrongs of the past and make it clear that the investments in the Niger Delta, starting with Ogoniland, should restore the ecosystem to what it should be.

Besides restoring the Ogoni environment, what else would an ordinary Ogoni man benefit from the clean-up?

Firstly, it is a very big benefit to know that you now drink and eat and breathe cleaner than you were in the past. Things that you and I take for granted are not things that can be taken for granted in Ogoniland. The second thing is that once we keep the Niger Delta and Ogoniland cleaned, it is about giving alternatives to what has happened now and giving a future to young people, especially women and young men.

So, we will be looking at the livelihoods. We will be looking at that whole scenario where we talk about the diversification of the economy beyond oil.

What would we gain by doing that?

There is so much to be done. We can have industrial parks. We can look at fishing. We can look at so many other parts of the ecosystem that can profit not just everyone in the country because revenue goes into one pot, but actually profits the lives of people in there.

What definite programmes have been planned for the post clean-up period?

The first set of programmes is to actually look at the emergency response, because in many of these polluted areas, people cannot drink the water. The ground they till for agriculture is poisoned. The toxicity in water and plant and the food we eat, that is the first thing that we will have to deal with. Where people are living, we will remove the toxic substances and then deal with the water issue. So, these are some of the first things that will happen.

The second is really providing a baseline to understand where we should start. This is a programme that is going to take 20 to 25 years. So, you just can’t land in one part of the creek and say you are starting to clean. You have to clean where there would be a definite return to livelihood. So, if you look at the demonstration site, we thought we could deal with the fish ponds that are dead. We said if we revive that, then we have revived fishing opportunity for young people.

The other immediate programme is that we want a centre of excellence. The UNEP report promised a centre of excellence and a laboratory. So, we will be looking to where we position the child, the centre of excellence and where we position the soil laboratory so that we will begin to do some of the technical works of how to make it sustainable in Bodo. We can clean up what is already there, but in future as some of these accidents happen, some of the third-party oil spills that we are seeing, we can deal with them.

The third is that a lot of training has to be done. We want people in the Niger Delta to benefit from the clean-up and the clean-up will happen in different ways in different places; water and soil, among others. So, the training programme for young people will take place, giving them skill sets that they can benefit from the contractors that come to clean up the Niger Delta.

UNEP recommended initial fund of $1 billion for capacity building, skill transfer and conflict resolution in Ogoni. Where is the money?

The $1 billion is a commitment that the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) has made to provide. So, it is with SPDC. What we have done now is to set up governance structures, so that we first of all agree on the kinds of programme that will take place. And there is a Board of Trustees (BoT) that will make sure that the resources for Ogoniland are used for the recommendations the UNEP report had done openly and transparently.

We hope that we will have funds manager to take care of the money, because $1 billion is not going to be enough. When we get the $1 billion, we need to start the job. But we also need to use that to leverage on the funding from the budget, from other donors and from other opportunities around.

The structure of the council also includes key stakeholders, Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), among others. These are key stakeholders in the Niger Delta that are already investing and spending money. So, we want better coordination and coherence, and not duplicating but actually adding value to one another’s investments.

Re-pollution or secondary pollution may be a bigger issue than the current pollution in Ogoniland and other parts of the Niger Delta, especially with breaking of more pipelines. Have you taken that possibility into your plan?

It is a very real concern. First, oil companies have to do better. When we go to the sites where it is an oil spill as a result of their (oil firms’) faults, then you know you can really talk about the remedial work that needs to be done, to make sure there are no seepages from where the oil spill has come. You can contain that.

What you cannot contain so easily is where you have young people coming back to start breaking pipelines or having illegal refineries. That is why you have to do things in collaboration with the communities. Communities have to take responsibility. This is a collective responsibility. Do we want to clean this up, so that it is in the interest of the person in Ogoni land first? Cleaning up the Niger Delta is first the responsibility for the people in the Niger Delta. They need to take that responsibility. If they (Niger Deltans) continue to pollute their own communities, there is not much the government can do about it. You will just stop the work. It is very clear to us that there is rule of law here. There will not be any criminality that will be accepted.

Once the people of the communities decide that they want the clean-up, we will make the investment. People of the communities and government have to try to protect the Niger Delta environment to prevent re-pollution. We have to convince young people that this is not the best way to go. If it happens, then you have to stop work, because you cannot be throwing good money into a bad investment.

There has to be an understanding, because that just cannot continue. It is a sorry situation that we have found ourselves in. If we really look at the pollution in the Niger Delta today, over 60 per cent of it is third party. While we are addressing what oil companies did in Ogoniland, we really have to think about tomorrow. So, we have started in Ogoni land, but we know that the wider Niger Delta has very different kinds of reasons for pollution, and we have to deal with that. I think together with our colleagues in Amnesty office, in NDDC and the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, we have to work together to change the mindsets of people who believe that there is some future in polluting their communities.

How will your ministry address gas flaring issue in the Niger Delta?

When Nigerians signed on to the declaration that was made in Paris on Climate Change agreement, there were a number of decisions we took there, including an end to gas flaring by 2020 and a number of other objectives such as emissions. The more emission you have from different places, the more you warm the globe and cause a rise in sea levels. So, there are issues we have to take on and string them together, to say that gas flaring is damaging our environment and houses. No matter what the world is saying, emissions matter to us first.

Many things were involved in stopping us, such as policy decisions and regulations in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources. We have also joined the World Bank coalition on ending gas flaring. There is a roadmap on how to do that, not just say it. We have got concrete steps to it. Next week, we will join a breakfast meeting with fellow ministers, because this is collaboration. We have Ministries of Petroleum Resources, Transportation, Power and Agriculture. This is because we cannot do a lot without agriculture, because of the agric chain. It is not just cleaning. If you clean, staying clean brings a lot of other responsibilities.

What parameters has your ministry set to measure the milestones in the clean-up exercise?

One of the things we observed when we came in was absence of any clear framework for monitoring and evaluation. It is not good for government to set the measurement alone. There must be independent measurement frameworks because government is always measuring its successes. We have to have independent feedbacks. What we are proposing is involving civil society and experts in framing those measurements and indicators to have the scorecard. That is one of the things the committee will have to design.

The tools we use to frame the indicators will not be designed by government, but by those outside, who will hold us to account when we say this is the target we are setting for the clean-up. To measure and say whether it has been done or not should come from the end users, those that are going to be impacted by it. There was no such mechanism in the former arrangement.

In day time, most Ogoni people will demand clean-up. But at night, they will ask for compensation. How will you handle that?

That is really an interesting perspective. It is not whether it is the Ogoni people or not. People that have been in a situation of the tragedy that we have seen in the Niger Delta, once they begin to lose trust in government, anybody that they see coming to bail them out, they develop all sorts of responses, usually survival instincts. They will want you to clean up, and they will like to benefit in a clean environment, in investments and jobs. But just in case that is not where you are going, they will want night-time discussion. So, it is truly hedging your back, because people do not have any trust in the system. To reverse that, it is going to take time. The first thing I want to say is there will be zero tolerance for sharing money. We are taking money meant for Ogoni people and investing it in clean-up and livelihoods thereafter. That is the first message that we have to put out there.

We have to follow it up with actions and we too do not have to join them at night doing deal. That happened in the past, it is not going to happen in the future. You surely will not find me doing deals at night. You may find me drinking pepper soup, because I am having a conversation to agree on some issues, but it will not be about sharing money. The oil companies have to help here, because it has been about compensation all these years. I think it has suited people to solve problems in the past by just saying you want to compensate. But money has not compensated for the toxicity and the lives of the people in the Niger Delta, and that has to stop. Compensation is when you pay people their dues. But that is not all. When I look at the way oil companies clean up after spill, it is not the gold standards for Nigeria. We want the gold standard, because that is what our people deserve.

The standards used in other parts of the world are better than what we get in Nigeria. We want human beings to get the gold standards in Nigeria. Oil companies have to be taken up on that.

The clean-up is a big project that may take long. How do you get all groups to support and participate, because the Ogoni issue should transcend politics?

Politics is warped now. It is supposed to be response to your people and their constituencies on their challenges. It has changed. We derailed. What politicians say they are doing for their people is far different from what they want today. We have to get back to the issues and reinforce the voice of the people over what they want and what their so-called representatives get for them. That is why in any place where there is true representation, you find stability and investments going there.

We also have to look at how governance is done at the local level and institutions that help them to function, not just in Abuja. It is going to take some time, but what we can hope to do is get back on track and lay a solid foundation in the next three years. After that, who we leave behind will determine if the people will find a system where people will demand a good thing, because we did a good thing.

If Amina Mohammed leaves and all this crumbles, it would have been failure. President Buhari has got integrity and experience and we have got experience. We are just pulling all of that together. We do not have all the answers, but if we put the matter on the table and we get the key stakeholders together, it will amaze you where the solutions will come from.

You have been talking as if you were trained for the clean-up of Ogoniland and other parts of the Niger Delta. Did President Buhari have you in mind for this kind of task, going by the depth of knowledge and sophistication you have brought to the table?

I do not believe anybody had any idea that he (President Buhari) was going to put me in the Ministry of Environment. I did not even know he was going to nominate me. It was a surprise. My career track has proved that. What I know is, whatever you throw at me in the civil service, I will embrace it, because I am a daughter of a civil servant. I was brought up in a family where integrity matters, name matters, performance matters; and you cannot walk past anyone where you see injustice. I am allergic to injustice. That does not work. It does not matter where it comes from. It is about humanity. Injustice is injustice, to man or to animal. That is the way I am. Wherever you find yourself, you must fight that fight, so far as it is about your humanity.

I do not believe that you can fight a fight without experiencing it, even if it is for 24 hours. To think you can prescribe solutions to Ogoni people’s problems from Abuja is absolute nonsense. You must come down to Ogoniland and feel what the people are going through. Once you experience that, you can go back and tell anybody anything, because you have the conviction. You do not have to refer to a book with figures you are not even sure of. So, when I say to people that it is unacceptable that a people should eat a type of food with the level of toxicity in it, it is because I have tasted it.

President Buhari has asked us to do a job. It is a privilege because millions of other Nigerians could do it perhaps better than the way I am doing it. So, I have to put in my best, knowing that I am answerable to the Almighty. So, I do the best that I can do and I leave the rest to God.

What is the Federal Government’s plan to adequately tackle pollution in Nigeria?

The overall plan is to tackle pollution anywhere in the country. That is my mandate as a minister. But we are mindful that the genesis is what happened in Ogoni where the struggle started and which is the target of the UNEP report. That is the first bus stop. The second bus stop is the nine oil producing states (Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Ondo, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Abia and Imo) and the third bus stop is the whole country. It is not about where the pollution is the largest or where oil was first discovered in commercial quantity. It is about the struggle and where it (the struggle) started and the promise Mr. President made.

What is your message for Ogoni people and other Niger Deltans?

There is light at the end of the tunnel. Specifically as we have a President that is delivering on a promise. This is a collective responsibility and we want to get the job done. It cannot be done by me alone or by Mr. President alone. All hands must be on deck.

Crude oil and gas pipelines are still being destroyed in the Niger Delta. How will you advise the youths who have returned to militancy after the 2009 Federal Government’s amnesty offer to repentant militants?

The criminal acts will not augur well for them and for the people. In the end, it will contribute to destruction. That is not a future for anyone. There are alternatives and there can be dialogue. There is nothing done by force anymore. The one thing that President Buhari has given us is an opportunity to do things right, and if you have the opportunity, grab it, because it may not come again.

June 11, 2016
Ogoni clean-up: Hope for minorities?
Sir: The launch of the clean-up of Ogoni land in response to 2011 United Nations Environment Programme, (UNEP) report marks a potential shift from previous government management of the issue of the fragile ecosystem and sustainable development in the Niger- Delta. It is indeed a remarkable achievement in itself – a product of an unprecedented non – violent struggle by the Ogoni people to redress the socio-economic crimes by the Nigerian state through the unwholesome oil exploration activities by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).

As laudable as the Ogoni clean-up appears, key question remains: Does the government have the political and the moral capital and indeed capability to resolve the fundamental issues of oil exploration and exploitation that drove the region into almost five decades of under-development and environmental degradation?

The Niger Delta serves as a host community to Nigeria’s vast oil and infrastructure of 30 oil fields, 5,284 wells, and 7,000 kilometres of pipeline, 10 export terminals, 275 flow stations, 10 gas plants, three refineries and a massive liquefied natural gas (LPG) sector. This perhaps underscores the strategic importance of the region to national development hence the core issues of authentic reconciliation should be pursued by the federal government in line with the new threat from the Niger Delta Avengers to avoid further collateral damage and breach of peace in the volatile region.

While acknowledging that criminality in the Niger Delta should not be encouraged under any circumstance particularly the destruction of strategic national assets, it is expedient that the government of the Niger Delta states and the centre acknowledge the tensions between peace and justice and to recognise that pragmatism and recent development indicate that justice cannot always claim primacy in nation-building efforts. While impunity for people who have committed the gravest acts of destroying national asset is morally repugnant, sometimes doing a deal with perpetrators is unavoidable and indeed necessary to prevent further conflict and suffering in the land.

Going forward therefore, I am inclined to suggest that all options including the pursuit of full amnesty without undue political colourations must be on table. Pointedly, the real strategic options in addition to the clean–up campaign by the federal government should be a sustained peace process which can be done to accommodate the need for peace with the demand for social-economic justice particularly through the mechanism of deliberate development plan and projects of the region in a holistic manner.

The NDDC and the ministry of the Niger Delta in my view are political sedative. These agencies of government have failed to incorporate the interests and aspirations of the people. Moreover, there has been no peace dividend for the communities, high levels of unemployment prevalent especially among youth and women. More are still displaced and remain mired in poverty, without proper housing and under constant military surveillance.

It is hoped that the faithful implementation of the UNEP report in Ogoni land will be a sweet-smelling savour for healing broken minds and a foundation stone for restorative justice and authentic reconciliation mechanism for minorities in the Niger- Delta and the country at large. A policy and legislative reform to help improve social protection programmes and address unemployment is urgently needed to enforce socio- economic rights, including affirmative action or a bill of rights for minorities.
- Samuel Akpobome Orovwuje,
Lagos.
June 9, 2016
PMB’s aborted trip to Ogoni

Three times in the last one month, President Muhammadu Buhari, PMB, failed to honour scheduled official visits to three states in the country. First was the visit to Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria. The President had scheduled a visit to the state between May 23 and 24. Everything had been put in place for the visit, which could have been his first to the state since becoming president on May 29, 2015. But barely 24 hours to the visit, Yemi Osinbajo, his deputy, was substituted for him. The tight schedule of the President was given by the Presidency as the reason for the last minute changes.

Next was another scheduled visit to Cross River State. The visit would have afforded the President the opportunity to perform the ground-breaking of the Cross River State Super Highway initiated by Ben Ayade, the incumbent governor of the state. It would have also afforded the President the opportunity to commission the multi-billion naira garment manufacturing company put together by the governor to turn around the economic fortunes of the state. Like the Lagos visit, the visit was also put off at the dying minute.

Again, last Thursday, the President was scheduled to flag off the cleaning of the oil spillage in Ogoniland, Rivers State. The visit had received a lot of attention from within and outside the country with attendant media hype. It was a well-deserved attention. After decades of widespread pollution, the exercise was going to be the beginning of the remediation of the Ogoni environment in line with the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP, recommendations.

UNEP had conducted an independent scientific investigation on Ogoni many years ago. In its final report presented on August 4, 2011, the body had noted that the environmental restoration of Ogoniland could prove to be the world’s most wide-ranging and long-term oil cleanup ever undertaken. The aim was to bring back the contaminated drinking water, land, creeks and important ecosystems such as mangrove, to full productive health.

Unfortunately, for inexplicable reasons, Buhari’s predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, who incidentally hails from neighbouring Bayelsa State, failed to implement the report. Instead, he established the Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project, HYPREP, which was contrary to UNEP recommendation to oversee the cleanup. But the project never took off at all.

But hope was not lost. During his electioneering campaign in 2015, Buhari had, at a rally in Ogoniland told the people that: “A lot is taken from Ogoniland and relatively little is brought back in return.” He then assured the people that “an APC-led Federal Government will fulfil all its promises in Ogoniland.” Perhaps, it was in fulfilment of that promise that Buhari personally elected to visit Ogoniland last Thursday and officially flag-off the cleaning exercise. The proposed visit attracted world attention as the sufferings of the Ogoni people has been well documented in various media outlets across the globe.

The Ogoni oil pollution struggle had claimed several lives including that of four prominent indigenes of the area – Edward Kobani, Albert Badey, Theophilus Orage and Samuel Orage – who were rounded-up, branded vultures by protesters and then roasted alive in Gio, on May 21, 1994. The incident led to the arrest of Ken Saro Wiwa, the renown environmentalist and symbol of Ogoni struggle, along with Ledun Mitee and others. They were subsequently put on trial in February 1995 in Port Harcourt after eight months in detention and eventually sentenced to death on October 31, 1995. Mitee escaped the hangman’s noose. On November 10, 1995, Saro Wiwa and the eight other Ogonis were executed by hanging at Port Harcourt prisons. Their cruel death in the hands of the dictator, the late General Sani Abacha, sparked off global outrage and indignation.

The President’s visit would have reassured the Ogoni people that the government was genuinely committed to the restoration of Ogoni to a land once flowing with milk and honey. Unfortunately, again, the visit was truncated. It was called-off at a time the President’s advance team had already arrived in Rivers State on Tuesday evening, about 48 hours to the planned visit.

Apparently, many people believe the cancellation of the President’s visit may not be unconnected with the current appalling security situation in the Niger Delta. The security situation in the region took a-nose-dive few weeks ago, when a previously unknown group, the Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, took up arms and started blowing up oil installations in the region. They are demanding for a Sovereign State of Niger Delta, a call that has generated controversy among the ethnic nationalities in the region.

Various groups and elders have spoken against the latest recourse to armed struggle in the region, but their pleas, seem to have fallen on deaf ears. Besides the fact that members of the NDA are faceless, their modus operandi of blowing up oil installations in the region is seen as a dangerous trend that might totally bring the nation’s economy currently in the throes of death, to its knees. Also, the economy of the Niger Delta region itself may be thoroughly ruined as mass exodus of oil workers trooping out of the region because of threats to their lives and well-being, has started.

Perhaps, to convince everybody that they mean business, less than 24 hours to the President’s visit, in the early morning of Wednesday, June 1, agents of NDA successfully blew up two additional oil facilities belonging to Chevron Nigeria Limited. After blowing up the oil wells, the NDA issued a warning to the President to stay off the Niger Delta. The thinking is that security reports may have also advised the President to stay off Ogoniland on that day.

But that is neither here nor there. No matter the security consideration or interpretation of the threat, the President’s handlers know quite well that it might look like an acceptance of defeat for the President to renege on his plans to visit Ogoniland to flag-off the cleanup exercise simply because of threats from the faceless NDA. They are also conscious of the fact that by their mode of operation, terrorists always drive fear into people. That is not all. As a former military commander and a tough-talking President at that, it is very clear that Buhari would be the last person to be cowed by the NDA’s threat. After all, Yemi Osinbajo, his deputy, represented him at the occasion and nothing happened. Anyway, because the President stayed away from Ogoniland, the NDA could have wrongly believed that they had scored a bull’s eye. The implication is that this could further embolden them to unleash more devastating attacks on the hapless people of the Niger Delta region. That would make them destroyers and not avengers which they claim.

At any rate, events that unfolded later culminated into the president travelling out of the country to London for medical treatment. From this, it was clear that he was slightly indisposed. That was why the trip was called off. The same thing happened during his proposed Lagos visit. His medical team had advised him to desist from flying in an aircraft because of the pains he was experiencing in his ears. Who says the President cannot fall sick? As a human being, yes, he can.

The good news is that after more than 50 years of massive pollution and despoliation in Ogoniland, government and the oil companies have taken full responsibility for the remediation and restoration of the environment. This will positively rub off on the Niger Delta region as a whole. It is for this reason, that the NDA and their sponsors should be made aware that their latest acts of brigandage will only worsen the bad socio-economic situation prevailing in that region.

The way it is going, a major catastrophe, with far more devastating consequences, seems to be lurking in the Niger Delta. The time to act and act fast, is now!

June 8, 2016
Ogoni clean-up: What it means to Nigeria

The clean-up of Ogoniland, Rivers State has begun. Port Harcourt Bureau Chief BISI OLANIYI examines what this exercise means to the country

President Muhammadu Buhari has received accolades from stakeholders for kicking off the clean-up of Ogoniland, Rivers State. They have also said the Ogoni exercise must be the spring board to the general clean up of the Niger Delta.

According to the Director Administration and Corporate Accountability of the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), Akinbode Oluwafemi, Ogoni must be a footpath to the cleaning of the region.

Oluwafemi: “ We are happy about what has happened today, but beyond this, we must ensure that the general clean-up of the entire region should begin. This is justice for the people of Niger Delta.”

Stakeholders also insist that the implementation of the report must include timelines which must define progress.

According to ERA/FoEN Director, Uyi-Ojo:”In as much as the president revealed that structures would be set up for the immediate implementation of the report, no definite timelines were set for these structures to be in place to commence work.”

He also said the government must strengthen oversight bodies, such as the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), to effectively monitor oil spillage and hold oil majors to account.

ERA/FoEN also want the government to incorporate civil society organisations into the Governing Council of the implementation committee and actively engage the people of the region during the clean-up.

However, it may not be time to click the glass as the UNEP Report indicates that the restoration of Ogoni land will take between 25-30 years during which no new spillage must occur.

Minster of Environment Hajia Amina Mohammed said the government is aware of the challenges and working towards resolving them. “You’re not going to fix it in few years, no matter what technology you have. You have massive areas of land. Remember I said Ogoni is going to be our starting point, the rest of the Niger Delta is also polluted in heavy ways, perhaps even more so than Ogoni land.

“Even though there have been no production in the last 20 years there are still illegal activities that again refill the pollution,” she said.

The outgoing Executive Director of UNEP, Mr. Achim Steiner, also agreed with the approach: “A clean-up and restoration effort like this cannot happen overnight. I am hopeful that the cooperation between the government of Nigeria, oil companies and the communities will result in an environmental restoration, that benefits both ecosystems and the Ogoni people of Niger Delta.”

The road to clean-up

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in 2005, appointed Rev. Fr. Matthew Hassan Kukah (now Bishop of the Catholic Church in Sokoto) as the mediator between the Ogoni people and SPDC, with one thousand petitions written against him by Ogoni people to the Vatican, but he remained undaunted.

As part of Kukah’s reconciliation process, an impartial, international agency was to be appointed to undertake an environmental assessment and supervise the clean-up of the areas damaged by the effects of oil operations in Ogoni land.

In order to put an end to the many years of neglect, pollution, marginalisation and environmental degradation in Ogoni and to adequately empower the people, in July 2006, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) received an official request from the Federal Republic of Nigeria to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the environmental and public health impacts of oil contamination in Ogoni land, together with options for remediation.

In response, the Executive Director of UNEP, Achim Steiner, deployed a high-level mission in Nigeria, in order to gain a fuller understanding of the request and the expectations of the Nigerian government.

The UNEP team had extensive discussions with various stakeholders, including the then President Obasanjo, Rivers state and local governments’ officials, especially of the four Ogoni LGAs and the management of SPDC.

UNEP team also conducted field visits to Ogoni land and met with the key Ogoni stakeholders. A series of pre-arranged, well-publicised and well-attended public meetings helped the mission to understand local community perspectives and expectations.

Following the preparatory consultations, the UN organisation presented a proposal (including workplans and budgets) to the Nigerian government in January 2007, for a two-phase project: a comprehensive environmental assessment of Ogoni land and an environmental clean-up to follow, based on the assessment and subsequent planning and decisions.

Ex-President Obasanjo agreed with the UNEP’s proposals and made two suggestions: a Presidential Implementation Committee (PIC), under the chairmanship of Bishop Matthew Kukah be formed to oversee the work and that all expenses relating to the environmental assessment by UNEP should be borne by SPDC, under the “polluter pays” principle, with the suggestions agreed to by all parties.

The team of environmentalists also made it clear that the assessment would be completely independent and was also accepted by all the parties.

While the project was approved in 2007, administrative delays meant that fieldwork could not start until late 2009. Fieldwork and laboratory analyses were completed in January 2011. The study resulted in tens of thousands of analyses and photographs, all illustrative of the environmental situation in Ogoni land.

The UNEP tough task

Over a 14-month period, the UNEP’s team of experts examined more than 200 locations in Ogoni land, surveyed 122 kilometres of pipelines’ rights of way, reviewed over 5,000 medical records and engaged over 23,000 at local community meetings, while detailed soil contamination investigations were conducted at 69 sites.

More than 4,000 samples were also analysed, including water taken from 142 groundwater monitoring wells, drilled specifically for the study and soil extracted from 780 boreholes. The samples were collected, following internationally-accepted sample management procedures, and dispatched for analysis to accredited (ISO 17025) laboratories in Europe.

Extensive remote sensing analyses complemented the fieldwork, while reviews of legislation, institutions, oil industry practices and available remediation technologies were also undertaken by international experts to complete the study.

The environmental assessment of Ogoni land covered contaminated land, groundwater, surface water, sediment, vegetation, air pollution, public health, industry practices and institutional issues.

For the first time, there is systematic and scientific evidence available in the public arena on the nature, extent and impacts of oil contamination in Ogoni land.

The UNEP initiative was continued in the administration of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua. On August 12, 2011, ex-President Goodluck Jonathan received the 262-page main report, which was issued on August 4, 2011.

UNEP’s team of environmentalists made seventy six recommendations. Fifty of the recommendations are for the government, twenty two for SPDC and four for Ogoni communities.

The UNEP report states that the water in Nsisioken-Ogale-Eleme, Eleme LGA, contains cancer-causing Benzene (carcinogen), which is 900 times the World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) standards for water contamination, thereby requiring urgent attention.

The UNEP report also revealed that the sustainable environmental restoration of Ogoni land would take up to 20 years to achieve and recommended that the Federal Government should establish an Ogoni land Environmental Restoration Authority.

The UNEP report indicated that the full environmental restoration of Ogoni land would be a project, which would take 30 years to complete, after the pollution had been brought to an end.

The report recommended the establishment of an Environmental Restoration Fund for Ogoni land, with an initial fund of $1 billion for capacity building, skill transfer and conflict resolution. UNEP also recommended that the management of the fund ($1 billion) should be the responsibility of the Ogoni land Environmental Restoration Authority, among other recommendations.

Rather than implementing the recommendations contained in the UNEP report, ex-President Jonathan inaugurated the Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP) in July, 2012, less than a month to the first anniversary of the submission of the strategic UNEP report.

HYPREP was condemned and rejected by the umbrella organisation of Ogoni people (MOSOP), which noted that it would cover all crude oil polluted sites in Nigeria, unlike UNEP that focused on Ogoni land.

The then presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, on January 8, 2015, during electioneering, visited Ogoni land and promised that if elected, he would implement the UNEP report.

Buhari, on August 5, last year, after 68 days in office, approved many actions to fast-track the implementation of the UNEP report on Ogoni land, including the amendment of the official gazette establishing HYPREP, to reflect a new governance framework, comprising a Governing Council, Board of Trustees (BoT) and Project Management.

The President, who was represented by the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, on June 2, kicked off the Ogoni clean-up at Patrick’s Waterside, Bodo-Ogoni in Gokana LGA of Rivers state.

Buhari, in his address at the launch of the Ogoni clean-up, declared that his predecessor (Jonathan), did not accord necessary support to the full implementation of the recommendations contained in the report of UNEP on Ogoni land’s environmental assessment.

The kick-off was attended by Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike; his counterpart from Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha; the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; the Director-General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside; the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mrs. Ibim Semenitari; and Steiner.

Others in attendance were Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of the Sokoto Diocese of the Catholic Church; the Managing Director of SPDC, Osagie Okunbor; Hajia Mohammed; the candidate of the APC for the Rivers Southeast Senatorial District in the March 19 inconclusive rerun in Rivers state, Senator Magnus Abe; MOSOP President, Legborsi Pyagbara; the pioneer Secretary-General of MOSOP, Prof. Ben Naanen, of the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT); ministers; members of the National Assembly and other top government officials, among others.

President Buhari said: “Today (June 2) marks another milestone in the life of our administration. I recall the time as a military Head of State, when I visited Bodo Town in Ogoni land.

“During that visit, I commissioned a large fish pond and planted a tree as a sign for that government’s concern for the environment. Unfortunately, since then, the degradation of land, water and air has done huge damage to the fragile ecosystem of the Niger Delta, especially the Ogoni land.

“Oil exploration and production have been going on in Nigeria for six decades. Oil has given a boost to the Nigerian economy, but the ecosystem of the Niger Delta has been severely damaged. Fishing and agriculture have been badly affected.

“There were acts, enactment, laws, guidelines, regulations to govern the operators of the oil industry. However, either because of lack of will or wilful non-compliance with environmental laws, the environment was put in jeopardy.”

The President also stated that in the various communities in the Niger Delta, the negative impact of oil production and lack of consideration for best practices commenced the struggle for justice and fair-play in the conduct of business by the oil industry operators.

He noted that quite unfortunately, the agitations led to loss of lives and property, while international concern was raised, with past governments urged to take decisive steps to address the issues.

President Buhari said: “The report (by UNEP) was submitted to my predecessor in office (Jonathan) in 2011, but the implementation was not accorded the necessary support it required. The people of Ogoni land continued to suffer from pollution of air, land and water.

“After listening to the address presented on behalf of the Ogoni people by Senator Magnus Abe (during his visit to Ogoni on January 8, 2015), we made a solemn commitment that if given the opportunity, we shall implement the UNEP report on Ogoni land. We are determined to put right the wrongs of the past, where the people of this land were treated unfairly and their environment unduly degraded.”

The Rivers governor assured that his administration would provide the required platform for the successful clean-up of Ogoni land and the implementation of the UNEP report, with his administration ever willing to support the exercise.

Wike said: “On our part, the Rivers State government will ever be willing to provide the platform for a smooth achievement of this long-awaited intervention.

“We acknowledge that this is a federal initiative. The direct impact is borne by our people. We therefore urge all our stakeholders to embrace and support this Federal Government’s gesture and ensure a hitch-free exercise.”

Amaechi, who is a former governor of Rivers state, disclosed that his administration (as Rivers governor) did everything, including going to church to pray, but the then President (Jonathan) refused to implement the UNEP report.

The immediate past Chairman of the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers, His Majesty Godwin Gininwa, who is also the Chairman of the Supreme Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers, stated that ex-President Jonathan made a mistake by not implementing the UNEP report, in spite of being a Niger Deltan, from Otuoke, Ogbia LGA of Bayelsa State.

Gininwa said: “Jonathan is my boy. Jonathan made a mistake. He could not do what he promised (implementation of the UNEP report).”

Steiner said he did not think that the June 2 launch would come, while lauding ex-President Obasanjo for the initiative, stating that the late renowned environmentalist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and other Ogoni activists did not die in vain.

Kukah said in spite of the one thousand petitions written against him by Ogoni people, who alleged that he wanted to return SPDC to Ogoni land through the back door, he was glad that the clean-up had commenced.

Okunbor assured that the Anglo/Dutch oil giant would support the Ogoni clean-up and contribute its share of the Ogoni environmental restoration fund.

Hajia Mohammed assured that the clean-up in Ogoni would be extended to other polluted sites in the Niger Delta, in order to have a safe and clean environment.

Abe, speaking at the event, stated that Ogoni people made history on June 2 by stubbornly insisting on what was right, through non-violent struggle, rather than blowing pipelines or kidnapping expatriates and others.

The President of MOSOP, Legborsi Pyagbara, said environmental restoration was a major plank of the Ogoni struggle.

The pioneer Secretary-General of MOSOP, Prof. Ben Naanen, an indigene of Bodo-Ogoni, noted that with the launch of the clean-up, Ogoni people’s non-violent struggle has yielded result.

June 6, 2016
Excitement as Ogoni oil spill clean-up begins

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday sounded a note of warning that oil theft and illegal refining will not be tolerated.

He also charged regulators of the oil industry to ensure that oil companies operate within international standards.

The President spoke in Bodo, Rivers State when he inaugurated the clean-up of oil spill in Ogoni, Rivers State. President Buhari was represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

The clean-up is part of the implementation of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) report.

The President said: “Let me seize this opportunity to sound a note of warning that the current oil theft and illegal refining will not be tolerated. The regulators of the oil industry must live up to expectations. They must ensure that oil companies carry out their operations in line with universal best practices.

“This administration is laying a foundation for change. The government places high emphasis on the diversification of our economy. This is to ensure that our economy is strong and capable of supporting our teeming young people, thorough job and wealth creation.”

The President also pointed out that the clean-up of Ogoniland is embedded in the programme, livelihood and sustainable development components.

”Today (yesterday) marks another milestone in the life of our administration. I recall the time as a military Head of State, when I visited Bodo Town in Ogoniland.

“During that visit, I commissioned a large fish pond and planted a tree as a sign for that government’s concern for the environment. Unfortunately, since then, the degradation of land, water and air has done huge damage to the fragile ecosystem of the Niger Delta, especially the Ogoniland.

“Oil exploration and production have been going on in Nigeria for six decades. Oil has given a boost to the Nigerian economy, but the ecosystem of the Niger Delta has been severely damaged. Fishing and agriculture have been badly affected.

“There were acts, enactment, laws, guidelines, regulations to govern the operators of the oil industry. However, either because of lack of will or wilful non-compliance with environmental laws, the environment was put in jeopardy.”

President Buhari also stated that in the various communities in the Niger Delta, the negative impact of oil production and lack of consideration for best practices sparked off the struggle for justice and fairplay in the conduct of business by oil industry operators.

He noted that quite unfortunately, the agitations led to loss of lives and property while international concern was raised, with past governments urged to take decisive steps to address the issues.

The President said: “The report (by UNEP) was submitted to my predecessor in office (Jonathan) in 2011, but the implementation was not accorded the necessary support it required. The people of Ogoni land continued to suffer from pollution of air, land and water.

“After listening to the address presented on behalf of the Ogoni people by Senator Magnus Abe (during his visit to Ogoni on January 8, 2015), we made a solemn commitment that if given the opportunity, we shall implement the UNEP report on Ogoni land. We are determined to put right the wrongs of the past, where the people of this land were treated unfairly and their environment unduly degraded.

“Today (yesterday), we are in Ogoniland, in the heart of the Niger Delta, to fulfil our promise to you and to bring justice and succour to our people. The clean-up of this land will require change on the part of all those who deal with the Niger Delta environment, particularly the oil companies and our communities. The tempo of this assignment increased when my cabinet was constituted.

“We are, therefore, laying a solid foundation today (yesterday) for the restoration of the fragile ecosystem of Ogoni land and the rest of the Niger Delta.”

Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike assured that the state government would provide the required platform for the successful clean-up of Ogoni land and the implementation of the UNEP report.

“We acknowledge that this is a federal initiative. The direct impact is borne by our people. We therefore urge all our stakeholders to embrace and support this Federal Government’s gesture and ensure a hitch-free exercise.

“We, therefore, welcome this initiative wholeheartedly, as shown by our enthusiastic presence, believing that the recommendations of UNEP will be systematically executed. This is because we believe that only environmental justice would restore sustainable peace, stability and socio-economic progress in the Niger Delta.

“We commend Mr. President’s determination to close this ugly chapter in our country’s history. Although this has taken long in coming, it is never too late, when it comes to the environment. Mr. President sir, your presence in Ogoniland today (yesterday) is a testimonial of the long-awaited clean-up and remediation exercises of the Niger Delta polluted environment.”

Minister of Transportation and former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, said his administration did everything, but former President Goodluck Jonathan did not implement the UNEP report.

The immediate past Chairman of the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers, His Majesty Godwin Gininwa, who is also the Chairman of the Supreme Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers said Dr. Jonathan made a mistake by not implementing the UNEP report, in spite of being a Niger Deltan.

Gininwa said: “Jonathan is my boy. Jonathan made a mistake. He could not do what he promised (implementation of the UNEP report)”. He urged President Buhari to re-award the contract for the completion of the abandoned Bodo-Bonny Road in Rivers State.

The launch was also attended by Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha; the Director-General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside; the Executive Director of UNEP, Achim Steiner; ministers; members of the National Assembly; and other top government officials.

Recalling his efforts at the UNEP report’s implementation, Amaechi said: “Who is your brother? We did everything possible as sitting government (when he was Rivers Governor) to get our brother and our leader, the former President (Jonathan) to implement the UNEP report. We did everything, including going to church to pray and UNEP report was not implemented.

“I was then, by accident of God, the Director-General of Buhari Campaign Organisation. The day I was to go with the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, (Buhari) to Calabar and Delta State (on January 8, 2015), as we were taking two states per day, I saw a delegation of Ogoni people in my house and they requested that I should plead with the then Gen. Buhari to kindly see them in their natural habitat.

“That they (Ogoni people) wanted to receive him (Gen. Buhari) and make a demand. In spite of running late, Gen. Buhari agreed to come. He came to Ogoni and promised he would implement the UNEP report.

“We are gathered here today (yesterday) in keeping with that promise and economy of the Ogoni people will change. There is no way we will spend $1 billion that we shall not create employment. The micro economy will change.”

Amaechi lauded Ogoni people for the chieftaincy title they gave President Buhari, to express gratitude for fulfilling his promise on the full implementation of the UNEP report.

UNEP Executive Director Steiner confessed that he did not think that yesterday would come. He praised former President Obasanjo for the initiative, adding that the late renowned environmentalist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and other Ogoni activists did not die in vain.

Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of the Sokoto Diocese of the Catholic Church, who was appointed by former President Obasanjo in 2005 as the mediator between the Ogoni people and the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited said in spite of one thousand petitions written against him by Ogoni people, he was glad that the clean-up had begun.

Managing Director of SPDC Osagie Okunbor assured that the Anglo/Dutch oil giant would support the clean-up and contribute its share of the environmental restoration fund.

The Minister of Environment, Hajia Amina Mohammed, said the kick-off of the clean-up was in fulfilment of the promise made by President Buhari, stressing that the UNEP Report’s implementation would require partnership, trust, transparency and accountability.

June 3, 2016
Buhari in Rivers for Ogoni clean-up

President Muhammadu Buhari will today visit Rivers State to inaugurate the clean-up of the Ogoni land ravaged by oil spill and production degradation.

The clean-up will be inaugurated at Numuu-Tekuru Waterfront in Bodo-Ogoni, Gokana local government in line with the recommendations of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report on Ogoniland’s environmental assessment. It was presented to former President Goodluck Jonathan on August 12, 2011.

Ahead of the visit, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) were yesterday trading accusations over alleged plot to disrupt the president’s visit.

But Governor Nyesom Wike sued for peace, urging the people to give a rousing welcome to “our amiable president.”

In a broadcast, the governor said: “As part of measures to enhance security during Mr. President’s visit, I hereby place a ban on the operations of motorcycles and tricycles in Gokana and Khana LGAs between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Thursday, 2nd June 2016. The security agencies have been directed to enforce this ban and ensure full compliance.

“I call on Rivers people, particularly the people of Ogoni land, to come out in great numbers and give our amiable President a rousing welcome during his visit.”

The governor added: “It is historic because it marks his first official visit to the state since assuming office as the President of this great nation. It is most significant because Mr. President is not on a political mission, but to kick-start the largest environmental clean-up in our nation’s history, for which Rivers people, and indeed the Niger Delta, will remain grateful.

“I call on Rivers people to be peaceful, law-abiding and demonstrate the traditional Rivers hospitality towards Mr. President and his distinguished entourage throughout the visit. As I have noted earlier, Mr. President is here as the father of the nation, who cares about the environmental and developmental challenges that we face as one of his primary constituencies.

“Accordingly, his presence in Rivers State is not an occasion for political campaigns by anybody or political party. Rather, it is an occasion and an opportunity for us to demonstrate unity of purpose and our readiness to work together with Mr. President to move Rivers State.

Ogoni leaders were yesterday holding meetings at Korokoro-Tai-Ogoni in Tai local government area, to ensure the success of the visit and for the youths not to allow themselves to be used to disrupt the strategic visit.

Paramount rulers from the four Ogoni local government areas, – Khana, Gokana, Tai and Eleme – as well as the President of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Legborsi Pyagbara; youth leaders, women groups, religious leaders and top politicians, among others, attended the meetings.

Rivers APC, through its Publicity Secretary, Chris Finebone, alleged that hoodlums working for the PDP would protest in Ogoni during the president’s visit.

But Special Assistant on Electronic Media to the governor, Mr. Simeon Nwakaudu, accused the APC leaders in the state of wanting to cause confusion.

Rivers police Spokesman Muhammad Ahmad, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), yesterday said: “The Police are fully prepared about the President’s visit in line with our operational order and in conjunction with the military.

“Mr. President is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. So, you must expect the security to be very tight, to avoid any incident. With the deployment of adequate personnel and necessary equipment already done, water-tight security will be provided.”

June 2, 2016