Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — The Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People, MOSOP, has accused the Federal Government of “consistent conspiracy against the Ogoni people.
President of MOSOP, Mr. Legborsi Pyagbara, made the accusation as he expressed wonder on why President Muhammadu Buhari would direct the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, NPDC, to take over Shell’s operatorship in the entire Oil Mining Lease, OML, 11 whereas the international oil company would still operate in other oil fields in the same oil licence.
President Buhari gave the directive to NNPC and NPDC recently, asking the two companies to be on ground in the oil licence by May.
OML 11 is not made up of only Ogoni oilfields, but is a vast oil block with 33 oilfields that extend from Okwaza oilfield in Imo River axis of Abia State to Bonny Kingdom in Rivers State, covering oilfields in Oyigbo, Ogoni, Andoni, Eleme and parts of Etche.
Eight out of the 33 oilfields are operational as at December 2018.
Pyagbara said the Federal Government had not revoked Shell’s license in OML 11, but only directed NPDC to takeover Shell’s operatorship and operate on behalf of the joint venture partners, which are NNPC, Shell, Total and Agip.
Pyagbara, accused the Federal Government of a consistent conspiracy against the Ogoni people, and wondered why President Buhari would direct NNPC/NPDC to take over Shell’s operatorship in the entire OML11, whereas Shell was still operating in other oilfields in the same OML 11.
He said Ogoni has written to President Buhari, informing him that the people were not against resumption of oil exploration in Ogoniland, but that there must be a tripartite arrangements between the government, the community and the operators in that regard.
According to him, “As far as that letter is concerned, Shell’s license has not be revoked, the letter only talked about operatorship. The Joint Venture is still the same, only the characters and the face is NPDC, NNPC
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“Shell still holds the license. The Federal Government has not revoked Shell’s license in OML 11, but only asked NPDC to takeover the operatorship. These are two different things.
“Shell has been operating in other oilfields in OML 11 except Ogoni oilfields. So, why direct NPDC to take over Shell’s operatorship in the entire OML 11? That to me, is a signal of something far more bigger than what we are seeing”.
He continued: “We are not against the resumption of oil exploration in Ogoni, but the Federal Government should set up a high-powered committee for broad-based negotiations and discussions to address the concerns of the Ogoni people.
“Oil exploration all over the world has long past the era of bilateral agreement, where the government issues licenses to operators without a broad-based discussion and inclusion of the host communities, like it was done during the Berlin conference where people sat down and partitioned Africa into colonies without the consent of the people.
“For oil exploration to resume in Ogoni, there must be a tripartite agreement which must involve the community, the government and the operators as it is obtainable in other parts of the world.”
On Buhari’s specific directive that NNPC/NPDC should confirm the assumption of the operatorship by May 2nd, 2019, Pyagbara said the directive will not work, when the Ogoni concerns have not been addressed, as it will be a disservice to late Ken Saro-Wiwa and other 2,000 Ogoni indigenes who died because of Ogoni oil.
