Infighting delays implementation of UN report on Ogoni land

The Federal Government’s inability to constitute a governing board for the cleanup of Ogoniland from oil polution has been attributed to infighting
among locals, despite Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) the oil company that operated the oil fields before pulling out, saying it is ready for the exercise.

The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) has recommended $1.04 billion for the clean-up of Ogoni community, just as the Federal Government made a commitment of $10 million to commence the Board of Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP).

A board of Trustees (BOT) was to be set to oversee the rehabilitation of Ogoniland and implement the UNEP report on the environmental restoration.

Members of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) are alleged to be responsible for the delay, as they are said to be opposed to the selection criteria which stipulate that the member of the board to represent the people of Ogoni should be someone with at least 15 years experience in the in oil and gas industry.

MOSOP, led by Legborsi Pyagbara, which has given the Federal Government a 30-day ultimatum, is said to frown at some of the laid down criteria as his group wanted to be given a free hand to choose a representative for Ogoni on the board, even when a huge block of the Ogoni community say that is unacceptable to them.

Pyagbara said his people would take to the streets in a peaceful protest after the expiration of the 30 day ultimatum given to the government.

Peter Medee, president of the socio-cultural and political group named KAGOTE, told BusinessDay that the alliance MOSOP struck with a particular political party which the Federal Government is not comfortable with could be another major factor why the board has not been constituted.

Medee said the leadership of MOSOP is in crisis, as another faction has sprung up claiming to represent MOSOP, adding that the group is not carrying the Ogoni people along. He said the Ogoni people want a holistic approach to the clean up issue by the government and they are ready to give the government the desired cooperation over the cleaning exercise.

He added: “We appreciate the faith demonstrated by president Buhari in seeing that Ogoni land needs a clean up , but we want him to deal with the various groups such as the traditional council , KAGOTE and MOSOP, all the various stakeholders that must be carried along.”

Also speaking to BusinessDay, Mike-lube Nwidobie, the factional leader of MOSOP,said what Ogoni people want is collaboration with other Nigerians to move the country and Ogoni land forward.

“We want to collaborate with the Federal Government and other agencies so that they can clean the place up and invite development to the place and not confrontation with anybody, “he said.

Recently the Bodo Mediation Initiative raised an alarm that some youths in its community were shutting down some of the projects that have been done toward completely cleaning up of the environment, as some of them prefer money to be shared rather than the remediation projection being conducted.

Shell in spite of the fact that it has completed16 actions, with 368 areas remediated, has not been allowed to access to some areas which require some level remediation because of land disputes, leadership tussles and community factions and mitigations.