The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) and other Ogoni groups have rejected the planned resumption of oil production in Ogoniland, citing lack of consultation and concerns about the welfare of the people.
In a statement on Thursday, MOSOP President Fegalo Nsuke said the group was ‘deeply concerned about the implications’, of restarting oil production without first addressing long-standing grievances.
‘While we remain committed to a permanent resolution of the Ogoni crises, we express dissatisfaction with the conduct of the Federal Government, which has proceeded without sufficient input from the local people whose farmlands and fishing waters have been affected by past oil activities’, Nsuke stated.
He added that MOSOP was not part of the process that produced the latest report on oil resumption, insisting that the organization and the Ogoni people dissociate themselves from it. Nsuke also reiterated the group’s demand for justice, including the exoneration of the nine Ogoni activists executed in 1995, and called for ‘transparent and unbiased negotiations’ on civil and economic rights.
Also speaking, Executive Director of the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria), Dr. Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface recalled that oil production in Ogoni was suspended in 1993 after Shell was declared persona non grata. He stressed that ‘the demands of the people as contained in the Ogoni Bill of Rights, as well as issues arising from the 1995 killings, must first be addressed before oil can resume’.
Similarly, the Convener of the Ogoni Development Drive (ODD), Comrade Solomon Lenu, expressed concern over the government’s approach. While acknowledging President Bola Tinubu’s interest in resolving the stalemate, he said the current efforts risk repeating mistakes of the past.
He urged the government to unbundle the OML-11 oil block, which covers over 11,000 square kilometres, into smaller blocks and to concession at least one to an Ogoni consortium. ‘That would show a real commitment to ensuring the people benefit directly from oil production’, he said.
Lenu further noted that oil resumption should not be seen as an end in itself but must come with a ‘clear pathway’ for improving the welfare of the Ogoni people.
