– Says Ogoni Development Authority solution to environmental, economic issues
Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, MOSOP, has accused the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP of compromise in order to protect the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, SPDC, on its environmental impact assessment report on Ogoniland.
MOSOP President, Fegalo Nsuke, said the report released by UNEP in 2011 to the federal government, deliberately protected Shell by covering up most of SPDC’s massive oil spills and not capturing over 70 percent of Shell’s pollution sites in Ogoni.
Nsuke speaking while addressing MOSOP’s grassroots coordinators in Bera, Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State, said Shell, who is represented on the Board of HYPREP was only there to protect its interests and would not hesitate to declare that the Ogoni environment was free of pollution.
The MOSOP leader held that since the study itself was compromised, there was already an integrity question and not much can be expected of the implementation process.
He said “The corruption in HYPREP did not start today. You will see compromises in the UNEP Report which tried to downplay the monumental damage Shell did to the Ogoni environment by not capturing at least 150 pollution sites which represented over 70 percent of polluted sites in Ogoni.
“UNEP Report therefore has credibility problems as it deliberately downplayed the damage Shell did to the Ogoni environment.”
Nsuke regretted that greed, emboldened by corruption and the non-representation of MOSOP on the HYPREP team has eroded the credibility of the cleanup program and was aiding the plot to mislead the public on the true situation in Ogoni.
He, however, urged the people to remain unshaken in the quest for Ogoni development emphasising on the proposal of MOSOP which prescribed some set of actions to drive development and permanently address the problems, through the establishment of Ogoni Development Authority.
“The future of Ogoni does not lie in HYPREP, it does not lie in individual political goals, it lies in a sustainable and dedicated flow of resources to drive development in Ogoni, create jobs, build infrastructure and more and that is the focus of our proposed Ogoni Development Authority.
“Your future, those of your children and your children’s children lie in the implementation of that document you are all holding in your hands. That document is designed to drive development and create jobs and empower you. You must stand for development and make it work,” he concluded.
The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, MOSOP, has led a three-decade struggle against discrimination, economic deprivations and denial of basic rights against the Ogoni people in Nigeria. The struggle had led to the death of some 4,000 people in state-backed military repression since 1993.
In September 2020, the Central Committee of MOSOP approved a set of steps which when implemented will lead to a resolution of the conflicts and called for the establishment of an Ogoni Development Authority. The proposal has been submitted to the federal government but yet to receive any tangible response.
