Group sensitises women ahead of resumption of oil extraction in Ogoni

Blessing Okorite, Port Harcourt

A non-governmental organisation, the Lokiaka Community Development Centre, has organised a one-day sensitisation programme for over 200 women from six Local Government Areas in Rivers State that host Oil Mining License (OML) 11 ahead of resumption of oil extraction.

This was the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has threatened to resist government resumption of oil extraction in the OML 11 without due consultation and approval from the people.

The group, which gathered women from Andoni, Etche, Gokana, Eleme, Tai and Khana, at Tai Local Government Council Secretariat, Saakpenwa, created awareness on the revocation of the operatorship license from Shell Petroleum Development Company and reissuing same to Nigeria Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) a subsidiary of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

The women were lectured on preparedness and safety towards the resumption of the oil extraction on the OML.

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Speaking at the training, Executive Director of Lokiaka, Martha Agbani disclosed that the purpose of the programme, was to create awareness around issues of oil extraction, women’s preparedness and safety when the extraction activities commence.

She said, “It poses great concern as the news is not welcomed at the moment as there is an ongoing Oil clean up activity following the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Report Recommendations to clean, restore and remediate the Ogoni environment which activities is less than 10 per cent implementation.

“The Ogoni environment has been reported to have been destroyed by the UNEP Report on Ogoni land with underground and surface water contaminated with Benzene 900 times above WHO’s acceptable limits, therefore in such mix, the people express their fears that if the operator ship license of Shell – a major polluter with vast extractive experience with international reputation and who has also shown its commitment by contributing $187 million is leaving Ogoni land, what is the commitment that the clean up would be implemented according to plans on one hand and on the other hand, are women the direct and daily land users aware of a re-entry of Oil company, what safety precautions can they take to avert the 1993 incidence that Ogoni women faced when their rights were violated and many victimised.”

She added, “So, we are sensitizing them, creating the awareness that they should be in the know. It is a safety tip we are giving to them”.

One of the female participants, Dr. Patience Osaroejiji, a native of Eleme, said instead of resuming oil activities, government should concentrate more on how to revive the environmental nature of the area.

She stressed that the government and the operational oil companies have not met recommendations of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), especially on the supply of drinkable water to oil affected areas in Ogoniland.

According to Osaroejiji, “For them to resume extraction of oil where the people are not happy and everywhere is still polluted is going to cause more problems in the land.

“So, my advice is that the cleanup should come up first, the federal government should keep that style of coming to extract oil when our environment is sick.

“We must do the cleanup first because coming to extract oil now means that they are going to finish us. Our ground is destroyed.

“We are not seeing cassava, the healthy yam that Ogoni people used to have, our green vegetable, we no longer see them because of pollution from oil.

“There was emergency major that they should provide good drinking water, health centres because our women as a result of the polluted environment are having all sorts of sicknesses; there is cancer of the breast, infertility, cancer of the uterus, wounds and other diseases.

“Our children are dying because of the bad environment, our water is no more drinkable. I am from Eleme.

“In my environment, over 15 years now our water is not drinkable, any borehole you bring out water from is smelling fuel.”

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Meanwhile, MOSOP has insisted that it will resist the resumption of activities on OML 11 as approved by the federal government, stating that without due consultations and consent of the Ogoni people  no activities will take place on the OML.

MOSOP, in a statement signed by its acting Publicity Secretary, Sunny Zorvah, stated that “Our attention has been drawn to concerted plan by the Nigerian Government to commence oil drilling activities in Ogoniland, using security agencies and other criminally minded non-state actors to shield operations of the oil company.

“MOSOP is particularly disturbed about this latest development and actions of the Government, considering its possible negative implications and the crisis it might cause among the people, in the communities and with the company involved.

“It is unfortunate and disappointing that rather than going through the proper and legitimate means and process, the government chooses  to ignore the people of Ogoni and prefers to engage and impose an oil prospecting company on them, even with an intent to intimidate, suppress and kill the people more with the use of heavily  armed security forces.

“We have consistently stressed that whilst we are not opposed to discussions relating to resumption of oil production in Ogoniland, the Federal Government and its agents must engage in a broad-based discussion with the Ogoni people that addresses the issues of benefits-sharing, community participation and the proper environmental management of the Ogoni ecosystem, including legacy issues arising from the over four decades of reckless oil operations in the land.

“We, therefore, reiterate our avowed position to resist any attempt by the government and any company or their agents to re-enter any Ogoni community for the purpose of carrying out oil exploration activities by force without due consultation and broad-based discussion and agreement with genuine and competent representatives of the people and key stakeholders in Ogoniland.”