BEVERLY HILLS, February 09, (THEWILL) – The Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) has raised a fresh hurdle to the environmental clean-up of Ogoniland based on the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) 2011 report, yet to be implemented by the Federal Government.
The Ogoni umbrella pressure group has revisited its 26-year demand for compensating Ogoni people for desecration of their land and destroying their means of livelihood over a 50-year period by the Anglo Dutch oil giant, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).
According to Fegalo Nsuke, Publicity Secretary of MOSOP, “the issue of compensating the Ogoni for desecration of their land and destruction of their means of livelihood is as critically important as the restoration of the land itself,” he said in a statement,
“As of 1990, the Ogoni people demanded for $4 billion as compensation for the destruction of their land, No remediation can be fair without the issue of compensation.”
He however gave a reprieve: “this (compensation) can be achieved through negotiation involving an assessment of the assets of Shell in Ogoniland and ceding them to the Ogoni people. For any company that will resume oil production in Ogoniland, these assets will represent the Ogoni investment in the new deal.”
The UNEP report in August 2011 had put Ogoniland environmental clean-up at $1 billion, while total remediation of the area would gulp $50 billion over a 30-year period as Benzene level in Ogoniland was 900 percent higher than acceptable standards.
Meanwhile, MOSOP has been accusing Shell of making surreptitious moves for an Ogoni re-entry programme, to help the oil company break the Ogoni resistance, and pave way for resumption of oil mining in the area it was forced out in 1993.
The group said, after Shell came Belema oil Producing (Nigeria). Belema Oil got the endorsement of chiefs and political office holders. It alleged that huge expenditure were spent on media advertising to justify the need for Ogonis to accept Belema Oil, “but the so-called leaders could not connect with the local people for a synergy in favour of Belema Oil and the project is already failing,” MOSOP claimed.
It alleged that there were other cases of backend lobbying seeking to gain entry into Ogoniland, but one factual outcome is that the people have resolved to get justice before oil resumption can commence.
“Justice for the Ogoni will involve, clean-up, pay up for the damage, prosecute all those who have been involved in rights violations in Ogoniland, and restore the rights of the Ogoni to decent living and freedom to determine her own future,” Nsuke stated.
He said these are minimal demands that will usher in peace, prosperity and happiness for all peoples who live in Ogoni and Nigeria by extension.
Story by David Oputah
