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Tag: ogoni

  • ‘Ogoni clean-up long overdue’

    ‘Ogoni clean-up long overdue’

    Normalcy will soon return to Ogoniland in Rivers State, following the Federal Government’s approval of N2.1billon for its clean up.

    The planned clean-up will boost socio-economic activities in the area, experts have said.

    Director in charge of Environment, Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CHERD), Mr. Obodoekwe Stevn and the Business Development Manager, Cerase Environment Services, Mrs. Gloria Igboji said Ogoniland clean-up was overdue. They added that President Muhammadu Buhari took the right step in endorsing measures that would fast-track the implementation of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) report on Ogoniland.

    Stevn noted that oil spills have destroyed human and natural habitats in Ogoniland, adding that the inhabitants of the area would go back to their traditional occupations of fishing and farming after the clean-up of their land and waters.

    He said once the money was approved by the Federal Government and it is well utilised, socio–economic activities in the area and others in the Niger-Delta, would come back to life.

    Stevn said Ogoni sons and daughters had lost touch with  nature, following the destruction of their waters and land by oil spills.

    His words: “Efforts have been made in the past to clean up Ogoniland and further help the people reclaim their natural habitats but to no avail.  However, all hopes are not lost as the government is planning to do a major clean-up in the area. The restoration of aquatic lives and others in Ogoniland depends on how well the government utilises the N2.1billion it has approved for the project.”

    Also, Igboji said  Ogoniland residents’attitude and that of other oil producing areas in the Niger Delta, use of wrong chemicals by contractors hired by oil companies to clean up the land and others, delayed the remediation and clean-up process introduced by Shell and other International Oil Companies (IOCs).

    She said the inhabitants of Ogoniland were sure of a good life now that the government had shown interest in cleaning the area.

    “Effective deployment of fund by the government is needed to make the remediation programme work.  The people in Ogoniland cannot wait to see their lands and waters cleaned up. They have been expecting it in order to improve their lifestyles,” she added.

    President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the establishment of Hydrocarbon Pollution and Restoration Project (HYPREP) governing council.

    The president, through his spokesperson, Femi Adesina, said the council would be composed as follows: the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, one representative; Federal Ministry of Environment, a representative; Impacted State (Rivers), one representative; oil companies and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation( NNPC), four representatives; Ogoniland, two representatives among others.

    He also approved the composition of a Board of Trustees for the HYPREP Trust Fund as follows: Federal Government, one representative; NNPC, one representative; IOCs, one representative; Ogoniland, and a representative  of the United Nations.

  • Ogoni group to Avengers: stop destroying Niger Delta

    A group, Ogoni Ex-illegal Refines Forum (OERF), has warned the Niger Delta Avengers to desist from the constant attacks on oil facilities in the region.

    It described the group as saboteurs.

    The group wants the avengers to tow the line of OERF who abandoned their illegal refineries for the peace of the region and to support President Mohammadu Buhari’s effort to address the Niger Delta problems.

    Speaking yesterday in Port Harcourt, the leader of the group, Mr. Cassidy Mbera  said with the appointment of  Brig-Gen Paul Boroh, Coordinator, Presidential Amnesty Programme , the region is in a good position to benefit more from Buhari’s administration.

    Mbera regretted that the Niger Delta Avengers started their illegal activities in the region when President Buhari has shown interest in the region especially his action to clean up Ogoni.

    He urged the Ogoni people to disassociate themselves from the activities of avengers and support President Buhari who they said is  set to flag off the Ogoni cleanup on  2nd of June 2016 in Bori, the capital of Ogoniland

    He said it is an act of wickedness for Avengers to disregard the pains and sufferings the region would pass through from their deliberate evil activities against the people of the region.

    Mbera said: “We are here to condemn the illegal activities of the avengers who refused to put our people, environment into consideration. We are calling on them to accept dialogue and embrace peace. We have a President who has a listening ear.

    “We want to use this opportunity to congratulate the Coordinator for the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brig-Gen Paul Boroh for appointing an Ogoni son as the head of Monitoring and Evaluation Unit. Of course, this group will continue to protest against anything that is inimical to the development of the region.”

  • Ogoni crisis: Residents condemn Wike over ‘one-sided’ visit to affected communities

    •Blame politicians for killings –Group

    Residents of Rivers State have condemned Governor Nyesom Wike for failing to visit the burnt senatorial office of Magnus Abe during his visit to Yeghe and other communities affected by the recent crisis in Ogoni land.

    The people urged the governor to show concern to all the people affected by the crisis.

    It will be recalled that Governor Wike, along with the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Musa Kimo, visited Yeghe and other communities in Bori and Mortuaries, but failed to visit Magnus Abe’s office.

    In a statement by Simeon Nwakaudu, Special Assistant to the Rivers State Governor on Electronic Media, the governor accused some politicians of deliberately instigating crisis in the state to create room for the evil declaration of state of emergency.

    Some residents, who spoke to The Nation, said the governor should have used his visit to make peace and calm down the youths of the area by visiting all the victims of the crisis.

    Mr. Paul Onyedi, a business man, said he was unhappy that the governor visited Ogoni as a politician, and not as the governor of the state.

    “What happened has happened, but the kind of statement credited to the governor of Rivers State would only worsen the situation in  Ogoni. I was expecting him to visit the place and also try to visit the burnt office of Magnus Abe. But he went there as a party man, not as the governor of Rivers State.”

    Chief Akwubi Mathew, a community leader, said, “The only way out is to forget about politics for now. The killing that took place in Ogoni was between armed militants and the military. And for now, we don’t know who is responsible for the killing, but let there be peace.”

    Mrs. Rita Ndabari, said it was important that the governor visited the communities and promised to pay compensations to the victims, but regretted that the governor failed to visit affected persons who are not members of his party.

    Also speaking, the National Coordinator of Ogoni Solidarity Forum, Celestine AkpoBari, said his group condemned the killing in Ogoni land, and blamed the state of insecurity in the area on politicians, who he said distributed arms to jobless youths during the 2015 election.

    AkpoBari said: “We condemn the killing of innocent Ogoni people. We condemn the attack on Magnus Abe. But you must know that the insecurity in Ogoni today was because of the arms distributed to some youths during the 2015 election by some politicians for the purpose of smuggling themselves into the corridor of power,” he alleged

  • MOSOP rejects Ateke Tom, others for Ogoni clean-up

    The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has said the planned use of ex-militants in the implementation of the United Nations Environmental Programme’s (UNEP’s) report in Ogoniland is not acceptable.

    MOSOP, which is the umbrella body of the Ogoni, said the comments credited to the Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brig-Gen. Paul Boroh (rtd), were unsettling.

    According to MOSOP, Boroh said ex-militants would be part of the clean-up in Ogoniland and that he had met with ex-militant leader Chief Ateke Tom and other stakeholders on that.

    Speaking through its Publicity Secretary, Mr Fegalo Nsuke, MOSOP, in a statement in Port Harcourt yesterday, described Boroh’s comment  as part of a greater conspiracy by the Federal Government against the Ogoni.

    Nsuke said there was no security threat in Ogoniland to warrant the involvement of ex-militants in implementing the UNEP report as the Ogoni would cooperate with experts in charge of the programme for a successful implementation.

    He said: “MOSOP wishes to state that there is no security threat to the Ogoni clean-up exercise, except General Boroh is instigating one, which he will need to clarify.

    “Boroh’s statement is not only suspicious but corroborates our fears that the government has deliberately ignored the Ogoni environmental restoration project, citing frivolous excuses.

    “MOSOP notes that the Ogoni people awaits the implementation of the UNEP report and will cooperate with all agencies, including security personnel, to see that the programme is successful.

    “We are disturbed by Gen. Boroh’s strange security arrangements outside the Police and other relevant agencies charged with the responsibility to secure people.

    “MOSOP is worried about the security implications of Gen. Boroh’s  statement, especially his discussions with ex-militants like Ateke Tom, a non-Ogoni and an indigene of Okrika, who should ordinarily not play a role in the circumstance.”

  • ‘Why Ogoni clean-up, others are delayed’

    Disunity within the oil-polluted communities, hegemony tendency of community’ leaders who lord themselves over their subjects at will, and the use of wrong chemicals by contractors, hired to clean up the oil polluted areas have been identified as factors delaying the remediation/cleanup process introduced by Shell and other International Oil Companies (IOCs) to restore the natural habitats in Ogoniland and other communities in the Niger-Delta region.

    Other factors affecting the cleaning of the oil ravaged communities, according to Human Rights/ Environmental Institutions, that spoke to The Nation, are delay in the implementation of the United Nations Environmental Programmes (UNEP)’s report by the Federal Government, and the attitude of  the polluted communities.

    The organisations said both internal and external factors affect the cleaning of the oil polluted communities. The Business Development Manager, Cerase Environmental Services, Gloria Igboji, said greed, excessive powers, which some chiefs in the region have arrogated to themselves, and the use of low quality chemicals to treat the farmlands and the waters, combined together, delay the cleaning of the areas.

    She said her firm carried out a study, which reveals that negligence on the part of contractors, hired by the multinational oil companies, to clean up the Ogoniland, is a problem in the region. She noted that the firm conducted an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) programme during which it collected samples of the land that was believed to have been restored.

    She said: “The result of the study reveals the opposite because, the farmlands and waters in the real sense of it, were not cleaned.  It was discovered with chemicals used in treating the land which were of lower quality.  Besides, issues such as greed, pervasive settlement culture caused by bribing of chiefs that protest delay in cleaning up the areas by oil firms, and excessive use of powers by some people in the region, have stalled efforts made to restore natural habitats such as land and water in the region.’’

    Igboji said it is high time Shell, the communities and the Federal Government worked together to  clean-up Ogoniland, and return the people to their traditional occupation of farming and fishing.

    She said failure to  clean up the Ogoniland in time, means  inhabitants of the area would not be able to do farming and fishing, which are their major occupations.

    Also, the Director in charge of  Environment, Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development(CHERD), Obodoekwe Styvn, said the people of Ogoniland are praying that the government should do correct clean up/ remediation so they can go back to their traditional occupation of fishing and farming.

    He said another factor that is delaying cleaning of the oil-polluted communities was the failure of the  Federal Government to speed up the process of implementing  the UNEP’s report,  which stated that  it would take about 30 years to clean the affected areas.

    President Muhammed  Buhari had in 2015, set up governance structure that would help in implementing  the UNEP’s report on the cleaning of oil polluted communities.

    Shell said the Federal Government’s aspirations to clean up Ogoniland would restore normalcy in the area.  Shell’s Spokesman, Precious Okolobo said the firm is not only committed to deliver the UNEP recommendations directed to it as operator of the SPDC Joint Venture, but would continue to work with the Federal Government and its joint venture partners in order to take the implementation of the UNEP report forward, and contribute to the growth of the communities where it operates.

  • MOSOP seeks unity among Ogoni politicians

    MOSOP seeks unity among Ogoni politicians

    The Legborsi Saro Pyagbara-led faction of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) has urged politicians of Ogoni extraction to speak with one voice.

    In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Fegalo Nsuke in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital yesterday, the group said: “Building peace and oneness among Ogonis, in our opinion, cannot be achieved through inflammable statements, which would end up deepening the problem instead of providing answers.

    “It is for this reason that we call on Ogoni political leaders to be mindful of their utterances and actions to avoid igniting crisis in the area and risking alienation.

    “To us, the task of organising the Ogoni society for the actualisation of the common dream is enormous and requires our collective response, rather than the resort to worthless and shameful distractions as experienced in the past one week.

    “However, we are deeply concerned that at a time when Ogonis have decried and warned against further appalling attempts at dividing us, some local politicians are fanning the embers of division in the area.”

  • Ogoni Bill of Rights: 25 years after

    Ogoni Bill of Rights: 25 years after

    The Ogoni Bill of Rights (OBR), initiated by the late renowned environmental rights activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, which was adopted by the Ogoni people on August 26, 1990 at Bori-Ogoni, the traditional headquarters of Ogoni land and the seat of Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State is 25 years this year.

    Also in 1990, the people formed the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP). Formation of MOSOP showed that the people were ready to implement the objectives in the OBR. Dr. Garrick Barile Leton was MOSOP’s pioneer President while Ken Saro-Wiwa was the first Spokesman/Public Affairs Officer of the umbrella organisation.

    Some of the demands made by the people that formed part of the document’s provisions were self-determination/political autonomy, the right to control and use their economic resources for the development of Ogoni land and payment of reparation to Ogoni people by the Federal Government and the oil companies.

    Through the OBR, Ogoni people also sought compensation for the pollution and destruction of their environment, along with the right to protect the area from further degradation.

    The OBR also emphasised that MOSOP is a non-violent organisation which believes in the use of non-violent means to pursue its goals.

    Copies of the OBR were sent to the then Military President, Gen. Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, members of the Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC), the military governors of Rivers and other states on October 2, 1990.

    The OBR was signed by six representatives each from Babbe, Gokana, Ken-Khana, Nyo-Khana and Tai kingdoms.

    The third President of MOSOP, Ledum Mitee, a legal practitioner, revealed that the representatives of Eleme Kingdom could not sign the OBR at the time it was adopted, because Eleme leaders were still putting their heads together on who would be their representatives.

    Mitee noted that other Ogoni people decided to go ahead with the adoption of the OBR in order to avoid delay and for the OBR to immediately be presented to the Federal Government of Nigeria, the international community and others for quick action.

    The former MOSOP President (Mitee) insisted that not having Eleme representatives as signatories to the OBR had nothing to do with alleged division among Ogoni people.

    In January 1993, the Ogoni stopped the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) from operating in the four Ogoni local government areas of Khana, Gokana, Eleme and Tai. The action was spearheaded by MOSOP, which accused the Anglo/Dutch oil giant of polluting the Ogoni environment and being insensitive about the clean-up of the polluted environment since it began crude oil exploitation in Ogoni land in 1958.

    The maiden Ogoni Day celebration took place on January 4, 1993 after which SPDC was sent packing from Ogoni land.

    Speaking during the 20th Ogoni Day celebration on January 4, 2013 at Bori, former Chairman of the MOSOP Provisional Council, Prof. Ben Naanen of the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), declared that SPDC would not be allowed to resume operation in Ogoni land.

    According to Naanen, who is also the pioneer General Secretary of MOSOP, the Ogoni people would prefer another International Oil Company with environment consciousness and good corporate social responsibility (CSR) records to the SPDC. Such new company would be expected to be sensitive to the needs of the Ogoni people and would be able to honour agreements.

    The scholar, at the 20th Ogoni Day celebration, also stated that Ogoni people would continue to insist on the full implementation of the recommendations contained in the report of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on Ogoni land’s environmental assessment by the Federal Government, declaring that the peace-loving Ogoni people would not have anything to do with the Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP).

    The national coordinator of HYPREP, Mrs. Joy Nunieh-Okunnu, however, insisted that Ogoni people would tremendously benefit from HYPREP, stressing that the Federal Government’s initiative was responsible for addressing issues of environmental restoration, cleaning of sites polluted by crude oil and exploring alternative livelihoods.

    A former Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Danladi Kifasi, who later became the Head of Service of the Federation, before he was recently removed by President Muhammadu Buhari, at a Consultative meeting on the UNEP report at the Ogoni Peace and Freedom Centre, Bori-Ogoni on August 8, last year said: “While HYPREP has implemented some of the transitional phase objectives as recommended in the report (UNEP), government recognises and it is very mindful that the programme (HYPREP) has not achieved its full objectives, as envisioned by this administration.

    “Government is mindful that funds meant for remediation and restoration activities in Ogoni land are used for that purpose. However, HYPREP will consider other Niger Delta areas affected by hydrocarbon pollution, by causing the polluters to clean the areas with their own funds. The time for decisive action is now and we call on all relevant parties to join us to tackle the challenges ahead.”

    Kifasi also stated that the Federal Government, in collaboration with the United Nations, the Ogoni communities and relevant Nigerian agencies, would embark on a comprehensive remediation programme.

    A renowned environmental rights activist, Rev. Nnimmo Bassey, also noted that the resolution of the Ogoni ecological devastation would be the barometer to gauge the collective readiness to address the despoliation of the Niger Delta environment.

    Bassey said: “The UNEP report will remain a raw sore on the conscience of both Shell (SPDC) and the Federal Government for as long as real action is not taken to remediate the Ogoni environment.

    “The report (by UNEP) shows that Ogoni people are living in an extremely toxic and deadly environment, are drinking poisonous water, are planting and harvesting crops on polluted land.”

    Major sub-groups of Ogoni such as Khana, Eleme, Gokana and Tai are predominantly farmers and fishermen while the groups are divided into six kingdoms of Nyo-Khana, Ken-Khana, Babbe, Tai, Gokana and Eleme. Bori is the traditional headquarters of the six kingdoms of Ogoni. The land owners of Ogoni are Kaani, Yeghe, Zaakpon and Kor.

    In a bid to put an end to the many years of pollution, neglect, environmental degradation and marginalisation in Ogoni, especially since 1958, when crude oil was first discovered in commercial quantity in Ogoni land and to adequately empower the people, former President Olusegun Obasanjo initiated the UNEP’s environmental assessment of Ogoni land in July, 2006.

    The initiative was received supported from the administration of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua. On August 4, 2011, the 262-page UNEP’s main report was issued. On August 12, 2011, the UNEP report was received by ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.

    The UNEP’s team of environmentalists made 76 recommendations. Fifty of the recommendations are for the government, 22 for SPDC and four for Ogoni communities.

    The UNEP report stated that the water in Nsisioken-Ogale-Eleme, Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State, contained cancer-causing Benzene (carcinogen), which was 900 times the World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) standards for water contamination, thereby requiring urgent attention.

    The report also revealed that the sustainable environmental restoration of Ogoni land would take up to 20 years to achieve and would require coordinated efforts from government agencies at all levels. It recommended that the Federal Government should establish an Ogoni land Environmental Restoration Authority.

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

    Former President Jonathan, in August 2011, set up a Presidential Implementation Committee, headed by ex-Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.

    The objective of the committee was to review the UNEP report and make recommendations to the Federal Government on the remedial and long-term solutions. The report of the committee was subsequently submitted to former President Jonathan.

    The Executive Director of UNEP, Achim Steiner, who is also the United Nations Under-Secretary-General, in his “Foreword” to the UNEP report on Ogoni land’s environmental assessment, described the history of oil exploration and production in Ogoni land as a long, complex and often painful one, which had become seemingly intractable, in terms of its resolution and future direction.

    Steiner noted that the history of oil exploration and production in Ogoni land was one that had put people, politics and the oil industry at loggerheads.

    The current MOSOP President, Legborsi Saro Pyagbara, said: “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.

    “The UNEP released its report on August 4, 2011. As a response, in July 2012, the Federal Government set up HYPREP, which has failed in all ramifications to address the issue of remediation and restoration of the Ogoni environment.”

    With President Muhammadu Buhari now taking action on the report of UNEP’s environmental assessment of Ogoni land, hope of ending the pollution and developing Ogoni land is not lost.

    The death of Ken Saro-Wiwa and other Ogoni martyrs must not be in vain, especially with emphasis to be placed on the clean-up of Ogoni land.

  • Ogoni clean-up: MOSOP warn politicians against sabotage

    Ogoni clean-up: MOSOP warn politicians against sabotage

    The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has warned politicians against sabotaging the clean-up of Ogoniland, as recommended by a team of environmentalists from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

    MOSOP, Friday in Port Harcourt, through its President, Legborsi Saro Pyagbara, stated that it had uncovered an evil plot by internal and external politicians, as well as their cronies, to politicise the planned Ogoni environmental remediation and restoration process, to advance some parochial political and economic agenda, capable of thwarting the success of the exercise.

    The umbrella organisation of Ogoni people asked the saboteurs to steer clear of the implementation arrangements, declaring that any further attempt at undermining the process would be viewed as an affront against the collective interest of the Ogoni people and would be decisively resisted.

    MOSOP said: “We insist that the environmental degradation of Ogoniland, which has compromised our general well-being, is not a political issue. Dragging the fast-tracking actions into the murky waters of politics demonstrates inexcusable callousness that should be condemned by all, especially lovers of safe and clean environment.

    “We are warning external collaborators who have, and are providing resources including their platforms for the secret, devious agenda to realise that they are known and sooner than later, they will be exposed.

    “We have come a long way, and we urge all Ogoni to come together, irrespective of interest, as we cannot afford to falter at this time of seeming genuine interest of government to redress the environmental wrongs against the Ogoni people. We urge all Ogoni people to heed our advice, as we will resist all attempts to frustrate efforts at ensuring environmental justice for our people.”

    The umbrella organisation of Ogoni people also stated that the condition in local Ogoni communities, where the people had been reaping deaths and facing crushing livelihoods should bother everybody.

    MOSOP insisted that end must come to environmental injustice in Ogoniland, thereby ensuring environmental security.

    UNEP’s environmental assessment of Ogoniland was initiated by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2006, in order to put an end to the many years of pollution, neglect, environmental degradation and marginalisation in Ogoni, especially since 1958, when crude oil was first discovered in commercial quantity in Ogoniland and to adequately empower the people.

    The Ogoni environmental assessment was adequately supported by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, while UNEP report, containing far-reaching recommendations was released on August 4, 2011 and presented in Abuja to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan on August 12, 2011.

    Rather than implementing the UNEP report, the Jonathan’s administration, on the eve of the first anniversary of the release of the UNEP report, in July 2012, set up the Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP), which MOSOP kicked against, in spite of making an Ogoni daughter, Mrs. Joy Nunieh-Okunnu, its National Coordinator.

    During the presidential campaigns, the then General Muhammadu Buhari visited Ogoniland and he promised the stakeholders that upon his election as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he would ensure the full implementation of the recommendations contained in the UNEP report, thereby ending environmental terrorism in Ogoniland, with a stop to be put to pollution, marginalisation, environmental degradation and lack of empowerment in the four Ogoni LGAs of Khana, Gokana, Eleme and Tai.

    President Buhari, on August 5 this year, exactly sixty eight days in office, approved the actions to fast-track the implementation of the UNEP report, with the decision described by the stakeholders across the globe, as a welcome development.

    The UNEP report stated that the water in Nsisioken-Ogale-Eleme, Eleme (Ogoni) LGA of Rivers state, contained cancer-causing Benzene (carcinogen), which was 900 times the World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) standards for water contamination, thereby requiring urgent attention.

    The report also revealed that the sustainable environmental restoration of Ogoniland would take up to 20 years to achieve and would require coordinated efforts from government agencies at all levels, thereby recommending that the Federal Government should establish an Ogoniland Environmental Restoration Authority.

    The UNEP report indicated that the full environmental restoration of Ogoniland would be a project, which would take 30 years to complete, after the pollution had been brought to an end, while recommending the establishment of an Environmental Restoration Fund for Ogoniland, with initial fund of $1 billion for capacity building, skill transfer and conflict resolution and that the management of the fund should be the responsibility of the Ogoniland Environmental Restoration Authority.

  • TUC praises govt over Ogoni clean-up, NNPC restructuring

    TUC praises govt over Ogoni clean-up, NNPC restructuring

    The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has praised the Federal Government over its planned clean-up of oil-polluted Ogoniland, resuscitation of the national carrier and the appointment of a new Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

    TUC in a statement signed by its President, Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama, and Secretary-General, Comrade Musa Lawal, said it views the moves as steps in the right direction if the change mantra espoused and canvassed by the ruling party is to yield positive results.

    The Congress advised the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to expedite action on the afore-mentioned areas and other items on its developmental agenda, as time is not on the government’s side.

    According to the statement, successive government’s insensitivity to the plight of the people has been the major cause of most unrests and insurgencies in the land.

    The labour chiefs noted that the initiative to clean up Ogoniland will help give a sense of belonging to the Niger Delta people. Part of the statement read: “Our country, being a mono-economy, cannot afford to neglect the goose that lays the golden egg. The present administration should go ahead and also diversify the economy, revive other sectors as it has planned to do in the aviation industry through the reintroduction of the national carrier, and fight corruption to a stand-still.

    “The Niger Delta agitation, for instance, started as a result of failure to address the grievances of the people, which include the destruction of their farmlands by oil spillage, gas flaring.”

    On the NNPC, TUC said the war against corruption should be comprehensive, lest it be viewed as mere witch-hunting. “While we applaud the sanitisation that has commenced at the NNPC, we also insist that it be extended to the ministries and other agencies of government. There is no patriotic Nigerian who is not bothered by the administrative and financial anomalies we have encouraged and accommodated as a nation,” Kaigama said.

    The labour Center also noted that the move to revive the national carrier is a welcome development, adding that it is a shame for Nigeria, a nation with a population of over 170 million people, not to have a national carrier at a time when smaller nations like Ethiopia operate airlines that are major sources of prestige and foreign exchange to them.

    The statement further said British Airways and other foreign airlines earn substantial revenue from flying Nigeria’s airspace, taking advantage of the large vacuum created by the ineptitude of our leaders over the years.

    “Apart from the thousands of Nigerians who go on medical tourism to Britain and other foreign nations, a good percentage of Nigerians who live in those nations come home at least twice yearly aboard their airlines. Just imagine how much we would earn if they flew our own national carrier instead? A lot of foreign exchange is involved here!

    Suffice to say that all those countries are having a field day making aviation money that we should be making. And this is aside the massive employment potentials that we have denied ourselves,” TUC lamented.

  • Clean-up: Excited Ogoni indigenes eager to go back to farming

    Clean-up: Excited Ogoni indigenes eager to go back to farming

    Ogoni people are excited over the government’s plan to clean up their environment as that will make them go back to their traditional jobs of farming and fishing, as well as enjoy unpolluted air, writes AKINOLA AJIBADE.

    Ogoni sons and daughters appear set to return to their traditional occupation of farming, and fishing as the Federal Government embarks on the  long overdue clean-up of their environment that has been destroyed by oil spills.

    The clean up exercise, which the government promised to be in line with the United Nations Environment Programme(UNEP) recommendations, was not only greeted with applause  among the people of Ogoniland, it has also marked the dawn of a new era for the people who have for long not been engaging in fishing and farming because oil spills that polluted their lands and waters.

    With the Federal Government planning to stick to UNEP’s report which stated that stakeholders in the Niger Delta region must  work together to restore polluted environments and put an end to all forms of contaminations in the oil producing region, better days are ahead for people of Ogoniland, who are seriously looking for opportunties to go back to their traditional jobs.

    The Chairman, Council of Chiefs, Bodo Communities in Kogana Local Government of Rivers State, Mene Slyvester Kogbara, said the over 16,000 residents of the communities cannot wait to go back to  fishing, farming, palm oil production, palmwine tapping and other activities as government plans to clean up their land and rivers in order restore their natural habitats.

    He said Ogoniland people are originally fishermen and farmers, adding that they have been practising the occupations for decades.

    He said: ‘’Historically, the Ogoniland have been cut off from their roots since they are unable to use their lands and rivers for fishing, due to oil spills.  While some engage in subsistence farming, others are into mechanised farming. The same applies to fishing.  With oil exploration activities destroying their aquatic lives, farmlands, forests and other natural habitats, the people of Ogoniland have no choice than to do jobs that are not satisfactory to them.  Now that Federal Government is planning to  clean up our land, we would definitely go back to farming and others. ‘’

    He said farmlands covering  12,000 acres was destroyed by oil spills, stressing that his people would be able to practise farming well, once the government cleans up the land.

    ‘’This aside, land used for cash crops, farming and fishing by my people was destroyed. They are used to those jobs and they cannot do any other jobs.  That is why we told Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) that payment of compensation was not enough. They (the Company) should clean up our land and waters. No matter the amount Shell paid us, we would squander the money once we do not have areas to invest the money in.  My people know the importance of farming and fishing, and would not hesitate to invest the money  Shell paid them in the two activities,” he added.

    Also, the Director of Environment, Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CHERD), Obodoekwe Styvn, said the people of Ogoniland are eager to go back to farming and fishing once the government cleans up their land.

    He said the Ogoni people are praying that the government should do correct clean up/remediation so that they can go back to their traditional occupations. He said Ogoniland is made up of  local people who would always like to cling  on to their traditional ways of life despite all odds, stressing that such people would want to go back to fishing or farming which they were forced to abandon by oil pollutions.

    ‘’Ogonis are of farmers and fishers folks. Even with polluted environment, many still do farming and fishing, although they have to toil much more than before to get little or no yields. Some go to far distances in order to do the jobs upon which they depend for survival. Farming and fishing among other local economic activities will certainly be boosted if ogoni environment is properly restored. Yes, people will go back to their original occupation. Moreover, whether they want to go back to their traditional occupation or not, ogonis, like others, are entitled to clean environment.’’ Obodoekwe said.

    According to him, the Ogoni people are tired of living like endangered species, and are ready to go back  to local activities like farming and fishing, if their environment is properly restored by the government.

    Obodoekwe said the people are anxious to go back to farming and fishing, despite the UNEP report which stated that it would take about 30 years to clean the mess caused by oil pollution and return the environment to a useful and productive area.

    Sharing Obodoekwe views was,  the Business Development Manager, Cerase Environmental Services, Gloria Igboji, who said it is high time Shell, the communities and the Federal Government worked together to end clean-up Ogoniland, and return the people to their traditional occupation.

    She said failure to  clean up the Ogoniland in time, means  inhabitants of the area would not be able to do farming and fishing, which are their major occupations.

    She advised the government to compel institutions that would clean the oil polluted areas to use quality chemicals to avoid a re-occurrence of the problems, adding such efforts would make the Ogoni people to back to their traditional jobs.

    In a related development, Shell has welcome leadership shown by President Buhari in setting up governance structure for implementation of the United Nations Environmental Programme’s report on the cleaning of oil polluted communities the Niger-Delta region.

    Shell, according to its Spokesman, Precious Okolobo, said its ready to identify with the government’s aspirations to clean up Ogoniland in order to restore normalcy in the area.

    The firm said the oil-polluted communities and the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) were helping its resolve to ensure a cleaner and friendly atmosphere in areas where it is producing oil in the Niger-Delta region.

    Shell said its not only  committed to deliver the UNEP recommendations directed to it as operator of the SPDC Joint Venture, but would continue to work with the Federal  Government and its joint venture partners in order to take the implementation of the UNEP report forward, and contribute to the growth of the communities where it operates.

    Shell added: ‘’ We’re greatly encouraged by the positive and constructive response from representatives of the communities, non-governmental organisations, and the civil society in the Niger-Delta. This is an important step forward and SPDC is determined to play its part in maintaining the momentum.’’

    The firm said it has taken some measures to remove the spills, caused by its oil exploration activities in the Niger-Delta, arguing that its wholly in support of any move to rid the area of pollutants.

    The company said it has cleaned up 47 out of the 50 pipelines that were vandalised, and employed contractors to protect the pipelines, as part of efforts to reduce oil spills in Ogoniland.

    The firm said it has promised to contribute to $1billion Ogoniland Restoration Fund, while appearing before the House of Representatives Committee on Environment in 2014.

    Shell and the Bodo Communities have been at logger heads over the embroiled cleaning of the oil polluted areas.  The two parties have been trading blames on the issue of cleaning the oil polluted areas.

    While Shell, on one hand, accused the communities of not cooperating with it to clean up the spills which, occurred as a result of its oil exploration activities, the communities, on the other hand, alleged that Shell was not applying the right chemicals to clean the land.  This informed the decision of Shell to appear before the House of Representatives Committee on Environment in 2004 to explain the reason for the delay in cleaning up the Ogoniland, years after the land was destroyed by oil spills.