CSOs Reject Oil Resumption in Ogoniland, Demand Cleanup, Justice.
It would be recalled that Ogoni people have suffered decades of oil pollution resulting from activities of oil multinationals, sabotage, and which has not just affected their health but badly affected their sources of livelihood.
At a press conference in Port Harcourt on Thursday, Dr.
Celestine Akpobari, Executive Director of Miideekor Environmental Centre who spoke on behalf of the coalition, said the proposed resumption was unacceptable in the absence of comprehensive environmental restoration and genuine consultation with the Ogoni people.” The coalition maintained that its position was not against dialogue or development but against a process it described as moving ahead of environmental remediation, transparency and the free, prior and informed consent of the people.
“Let us be clear: there must be no resumption of oil production in Ogoniland under the present conditions. Neither should any new oil well be opened in the Niger Delta,” Akpobari declared. According to the organisations, oil production stopped in Ogoniland in 1993 following years of agitation by the people over environmental degradation, economic marginalisation and the need for greater control over their natural resources. They recalled that the Ogoni Bill of Rights, presented in 1990, articulated the community’s demands for political autonomy, environmental protection and equitable benefits from its natural resources.
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