Jun 05, 2018

Ogoni : Clean-Up Procedure Criticised by MOSOP Leadership


Ogoni heartlands have been subject to ruthless natural resource exploitation and environmental degradation.  Part of the ongoing reconciliation between the Ogoni, the Nigerian authorities and the private sector actors including Shell Oil was an agreement to conduct a thorough clean-up of the polluted lands in Ogoniland from numerous oil spills and industrial waste. However, the progress of clean-up programme has been heavily criticised by MOSOP leadership, despite President Mohammed Burari assuring Ogonilanders otherwise. 

Article below originally published by Vanguard Nigeria

Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People, MOSOP, and Social Action, SA, have informed President Muhammadu Buhari that the clean-up of the devastated Ogoniland was not progressing satisfactorily as he claimed.

MOSOP and the civil society oganisation stated this yesterday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State,  during a quarterly engagement with CSOs coalition and communities to review progress on the Ogoni clean-up and emergency measures organised by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC.

President Buhari had in his speech during his 3rd year in office anniversary said: “The environmental clean-up of the region which commenced with the launch in Bodo, Ogoni in June, 2016 is progressing satisfactorily. Furthermore,  farming assets are being revived and investors in cocoa and palm oil plantations are showing serious interest.”

However, Conflict Advisor of CISLAC, Salaudeen Hashim, in his opening remark said that the essence of the meeting was to appraise the entire process of the clean-up and to ascertain what has worked and things that have failed.

“We still know that a lot that had been applied in the report, the emergency measures, the cleanup remediation, none of them has been done and to have said that clean-up was progressing satisfactory, for us is something that came very surprisingly.”

Meanwhile, spokesman of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke, said the Federal Government was not correct, noting, “I totally disagree with the President because I don’t think that if the project is moving progressively, the Ogoni people will still be drinking polluted water.

“Ogoni people still live in totally polluted environment and they are dying every day. It is so terrible that in a community like Bodo in Gokana LGA, no fewer than 10 people die every week.”

 

Photo courtesy of Akintunde Akinleye 2011 @Photoshtab