Fresh opportunity for the Ogoni people
On Thursday, June 2, 2016, President Muhammadu Buhari, in fulfilment of his promise to the Ogoni ethnic nationality, flagged off the clean up exercise as recommended by the United Nations through its agency on environment programme (UNEP). By this, the fears over the years of whether or not the government of Nigeria will implement the report have been laid to rest. The event also looked like laying a foundation for fresh opportunity for the Ogoni ethic nationality of over 500,000 people in four local council areas in Rivers state.
The additional step of announcing approval to set up the $1 billion Ogoni Restoration Fund along with the other key organs recommended by the United Nations; the Ogoniland Restoration Authority and Institutional Regulatory Reforms, served as added impetus for confidence building steps in the troubled areas of the oil region. More important is the declaration by the federal government that the flag-off means a resolve to clean up of the entire oil region. The President also stated that the Ogoni event signals the first step in resolving the conflicts that have plagued some parts of Nigeria from the North East to South-South and South East.
The Ogoni clean-up project is a big message to the international community who have watched Nigeria for years as the nation grappled, often unsuccessfully, with seemingly intractable issues in the oil sector. Issues of equity in oil revenue allocation, environmental justice and massive pollution have combined to give legitimacy to what is today called the Ogoni struggle, leading to widespread agitations that were not addressed at early stages.
For the Ogoni, decades of oil pollution led to the formation of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People in 1992. The nation seemed not to pay serious attention until the 1993 mass protest of over 300,000 men and women around oil facilities. Less than two years after the onset of the Ogoni agitation, the oil companies reported loss of over $200 million. This seemed to provoke the then military government led by Sani Abacha, an Army general, who ordered a crackdown that led to the arrest of the world renowned playwright, Ken Saro Wiwa. The death of an Ogoni activist in 1994 signalled the transformation of the peaceful agitation to bloodshed and massive violence, the climax being the arrest, trial and execution (November 10, 2015) of Wiwa and eight of his Ogoni kinsmen. This brought huge negative attention and reprisals to Nigeria and shot Ogoni to the world map.
This underlines the significance of the Thursday June 2, 2016 event in Ogoni. This has brought the pains of a people to an end, going by the open testimonies of Ogoni leaders and chiefs at Numuu Tekuru, the town where the clean up was symbolically started. The fact that it involved the fish pond established by one chief, Patrick Tombari Kporobunu of Sugi in Bodo, Gokana local council area which was a place of attraction and viability when Buhari commissioned the fish pond there in 1984 seems to rekindle hopes of a big boom in agriculture, the mainstay of the Ogoni people. The lamentations of the past and expression of hope for the future rendered by the son of the late chief to newsmen a day before the president’s visit have been interpreted as the pains of the past and the narrative for the future.
Regrets have been expressed over the inexplicable delay of the Federal Government since 2011 to begin the implementation of the clean up but the event of June 2 should mark the end of lamentation and doubt. The Federal Government under President Buhari must be commended for kick-starting the UNEP Report, no matter the side of the debate anyone may belong. The active participation of other federal government agencies especially the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) must equally be commended. The ability of the Minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed, to show demonstrable openness, focus and speed seem to have impressed most stakeholders who were used to the opposite. The close participation of stakeholders including the Rivers State government was equally commendable. The open assurances and appeals for peace by the state governor, Nyesom Wike, remain exemplary. The chiefs, elders, leaders and people of Ogoni however deserve greater commendation for their unity in action, massive support and focused support for the success of the much-awaited flag-off that would open the way for actual cleaning to begin.
For this hope to be sustained and for the return of faith in public policy not to be in vain, the Federal Government must continue to keep its promises and walk by its pronouncements. A clear plan of action with timelines must be developed with the stakeholders including the true representatives of the Ogoni people. This plan must be followed strictly to create a tradition of openness and anticipation. Every action, project or programme must be one that promises to impact the greatest number of the Ogoni people. An Act of Parliament should be enacted to criminalise breaches of any type in the implementation of the UNEP Report in Ogoni and any other part of the region where likely clean up exercises may be launched henceforth. President Buhari’s promise to continue to pay close attention to the project and to personally pay inspection visits to the remediation sites should be encouraged.
The support and cooperation of the Ogoni man and woman on this project must not be taken for granted. Efforts bust continually be made to sustain this, if the exercise is expected to run smoothly for the years it is earmarked to last.