Prominent elders of Ogoniland on Wednesday petitioned Vice President Yemi Osinbajo over attempts by the Hydrocarbon Pollution and Remediation Project (HYPREP) to link the clean-up to the resumption of oil and gas production of the area.
In the petition dated July 3, 2018 and titled: A Call for Intervention in the Engagement Process and Appeal
Against the Introduction of Unwholesome Conditions for the
Clean-up and Remediation of Ogoniland, the elders under the aegis of Gbo Kabaari Ogoni, the Elders Forum of the Ogoni People, accused the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources of being behind the move.
The petition was signed by Sen. Bennett Birabi, Dr Desmond Nbete, Mr. Ledum Mitee, Mr. Baritor Kpagih, Prof. Johnson Nna and Chief Monday Abueh.
Other elders that signed the petitions were Rev’d Canon Abraham Olungwe, R. Adm. J. N. Bakpo (Rtd.), John Pascal Nalley (JP), Michael Aloega and Dr Meshach Kara.
The elders said: “The attention of Gbo Kabaari Ogoni, the Elders Forum of the Ogoni People, has been drawn to a so-called “Stakeholder’s Engagement” with Ogoni People” with the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (MSPR) slated for the 9th of July 2018.
“The main objective of the meeting, according to the invitation sent to a few selected persons, is the resumption of oil and gas production activities in Ogoni land on the basis of an alleged agreement of an earlier meeting that the resumption of oil and gas activities in Ogoni must now be a condition precedent for the much hyped clean-up and remediation of the Ogoni environment under Hydrocarbon Pollution and Remediation Project (HYPREP).”
The elders said, Gbo Kabaari Ogoni was saddened and concerned about the developments, adding that considering the recent history of the people, the issue of resumption of oil and gas activities in Ogoni is such a sensitive matter that requires a thorough and painstaking engagement process with a far broader stakeholders than the few handpicked persons currently engaged.
The petition stated: “We are further seriously concerned that two years after the much publicised flag-off ceremony for the clean-up of Ogoni land as recommended by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) by the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources is now tying the expected commencement of the clean up and remediation process to resumption of oil and gas activities in our land by his preferred company.
“We are saddened that a Minister in a government avowedly committed to due process and anticorruption should even contemplate making resumption of oil activities in Ogoni a condition for clean up of our land, even when no attempt has been made to even engage on or redress the ills of the past. We find this clearly insensitive, to say the least, especially at a time that the federal government is revisiting the ills of the past in some other communities with a view to redressing them.”
The stated that the Stakeholders Engagement being planned by the minister of state “is a sham to merely endorse a decision already taken to forge a dubious so-called ‘Ogoni endorsement’ of a particular company to resume oil and gas activities in Ogoni without any pretences to transparency whatsoever even despite, as we are aware, the technical advice of his staff that the process for engaging any such company for the Ogoni field should be by public tender to ensure transparency and also to ensure that the most competent company is engaged.”
They expressed the fear that the motive was another attempt to wipe out another group of Ogoni leaders.
“With some sense of de ja vu, we see these as attempts to precipitate another crisis in Ogoni land to provide an excuse for the elimination of another level of the Ogoni leadership and endanger the fragile peace of the community,” they said.
“We, therefore, call on you to use your good offices to deploy the relevant machineries to effectively commence the clean-up of Ogoni land to prevent further aggravation of the already repulsive magnitude of environmental pollution of the land. We also wish to implore you to advise the Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources to discontinue any divisive measures that would impede the Federal Government’s plan to clean up Ogoni land as promised by Your Excellency during the flag-off of the project,” they pleaded.
The Ogoni elders however said the people were not opposed to the resumption of oil and gas production in the area, but that the resumption of oil and gas production activities “should not be made a condition precedent for the clean-up and remediation, which is already long overdue”.
No comments:
Post a Comment