The Ogoni Liberation Initiative (OLI) says it is not satisfied with cleanup efforts so far. There are still fears that Ogoni may go extinct.
It has rather said that the cleanup exercise being executed by the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) in Ogoni areas of Rivers State has not delivered the results expected by host communities.
Rather, the group fears that Ogoni may go extinct if nothing is done.
The group called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to urgently intervene to prevent what it described as the “extinction” of the Ogoni people.
This was as a non-governmental organisation, Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre, has partnered with HYPREP to plant mangroves in Ogoni areas in a bid to restore the ecosystem.
Douglas Fabeke, President and CEO of the Ogoni Liberation Initiative, cited a poor rating of HYPREP by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), calling it a proof of unsatisfactory results in execution of the cleanup exercise.
The group also criticized the management of the $1 billion allocated for environmental cleanup efforts in Ogoni land so far.
It said that several of the sites reportedly remediated do not exist, adding that money allegedly spent on water projects in some communities only delivered substandard and unsafe drinking water. He did not mention the particular sites that were claimed but untreated.
They also asked for the restructuring and renaming of HYPREP as the ‘Ogoni Restoration
Authority’, dissolution of HYPREP’s Governing Council and Board of Trustees and exoneration of the late Ken Saro-Wiwa and the other Ogoni eight.
Fabeke reaffirmed the group’s support for President Tinubu’s administration, expressing hope that the Ogoni people’s decades-long struggle for justice, environmental restoration, and economic empowerment would finally be addressed.
“We will continue to mobilize support for your government and for the unity of Nigeria. The Ogoni people have suffered enough. It’s time for justice,” he said.
The Ogoni Liberation Initiative further drew attention to a $300 million compensation allegedly paid by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) for Oil Mining Lease (OML) 11.
Fabeke claimed that the payment, facilitated under the former Group Managing Director of NNPCL, Mele Kyari, was intended as compensation to Ogoni communities but was allegedly diverted without proper consultation or documentation.
“There is no evidence of community engagement or settlement agreements, and the communities were never involved in the process,” the statement read.
“The previous administration in Rivers State acted in collaboration with individuals falsely claiming to represent Ogoni interests.”
Fabeke said the Ogoni Liberation Initiative played a central role in the legal victory that saw the Federal Government and NNPCL prevail over Shell in a Supreme Court ruling over the OML 11 asset.
He noted that several consultative meetings and resolutions were made involving oil-bearing communities, yet none of the promises made by NNPCL and NPDC management was fulfilled.
Meanwhile, non-governmental organisation, Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre, has planted over one hundred mangrove seedlings on Ogoni shorelines to restore the ecosystem at Bomu Community in Gokana Local Government Area, Rivers State.
Emem Okon, Executive Director of Kebetkache, said the exercise which was part of activities marking the Niger Delta Women’s Day of Action for Environmental Justice, was carried out in solidarity with the HYPREP.
Okon said the initiative is in line with its effort to ensure the restoration of devastated Niger Delta environments caused by oil exploration activities.
“Our visit to the HYPREP conservation site is to contribute to the conservation and restoration of the mangroves. We are here in solidarity with HYPREP and the Ogoni women. We are here to identify with HYPREP and we pray that the remediation exercise succeeds, and that the women in Ogoni will feel the impact of the remediation and that their livelihood will also be restored.”
Okon however, expressed satisfaction with the level of work done so far in restoring the ecosystem on the Ogoni shorelines.
Meanwhile, HYPREP’s site coordinator at the Bomu conservation site disclosed that they have successfully planted over one million mangrove seedlings on Ogoni shorelines in an effort to restore the devastated ecosystems of Ogoni.
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