Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — The Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People, MOSOP, has announced that Ogoniland was open to resumption of oil exploration and production activities, to fast track the development of the area.
President of MOSOP, Mr Fegalo Nsuke, who made the announcement in his message at the commemoration of the 2024 Ogoni Day in Bori, Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State, however, said the terms for oil exploration resumption must be negotiated with and for the people of Ogoni.
Nsuke said achieving development in Ogoni will require funds, hence negotiated oil production in Ogoni was needed and acceptable at this time to foster peace and cordiality between all parties including the government, the oil industry and the Ogoni people.
According to him, part of the said negotiations include that 25 percent of the oil operator’s profit would be re-injected into Ogoniland for job creation, infrastructural development, etc.
He regretted that in the past 31 years, Ogoni people have seen one of the worst and most bloody conflicts between themselves and the oil industry, as over 4,000 Ogoni lives have been lost while the problem remains resolved.
He said: “The Ogoni struggle has been a protest against underdevelopment, three decades after, Ogoni people must have a rethink. Ogoni People must allow a negotiated resumption of oil production in Ogoni because we will not achieve the development we seek without allowing the revenue from the oil to go into Ogoni development.
“Our primary demand is the operationalization of the recommendations contained in our development proposals which basically require a commitment to invest a proportion of the resources extracted from Ogoni back into Ogoni development.
“This is the stack reality before us today and at this point, we must tell ourselves the truth and move away from illusion. That truth is that our struggle is and has always been a struggle for development and the development we seek require massive injection of funds.”
The MOSOP leader continued: “We cannot expect these funds to come from elsewhere when the soil we walk everyday has the capacity to generate a minimum of 500,000 barrels of oil per day estimated at $40 million (approx. N40 billion).
“That is the soil upon which the Ogoni people walk daily in misery, without electricity, jobs for our youths, schools, hospitals, security etc. This is the basis upon which we decided to pursue our development goals in the best interest of our people.
“Ogoni is open for resumption of production, but it has to be negotiated. The negotiation is on course and I will urge the government to accept our proposal because if the government doesn’t accept our proposal, it will mean they are not ready for nonviolence negotiations.
“We are not interested in the oil company that comes in, but let’s have the Ogoni interest protected. 25percent of the operators profit should be re-injected into Ogoniland for job creation, infrastural development.
“I urge the Ogoni people to give peace a chance as we continue to explore all options to dialogue and resolve the lingering conflicts.”
He further explained that he had approached the Buhari-led federal governemnt on the proposal, however, the negotiations were inconclusive, as the country moved into national elections and subsequent change in national leadership.
