After over $500m oil extraction: MOSOP-USA fears Ogoni may go extinct before 2050

If a marshal plan is not launched with a state of emergency in Ogoni, the area may go extinct before 2050.

The alarm was raised by the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP-USA) in a statement made available to BusinessDay in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

The statement signed by an elder, the president of MOSOP-USA, Augustine DineBari Kpuinen, said many things have happened that were poised to destroy Ogoni land if urgent action plan was not launched immediately.

The statement said Ogoni has struggled since 27 years after the killing of the Ogoni 9 (including the globally famous writer, Ken Saro-Wiwa); 23 years after the reintroduction of Democracy in Nigeria; 21 years after the Oputa Panel Findings; and, 11 years after the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) Report recommendations on Ogoni.

The group said Ogoni area remains a completely environmentally wrecked and devastated territory in Nigeria. Which could only be reversed by a marshal plan.

The group which met in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA, said they honoured the 27th anniversary of the hanging of the Ogoni 9.

Key resolutions by the MOSOP-USA included repeat of their demands such as exoneration of and immortalization of the Ogoni 9 and declaration of public holiday every November 10.

Saying the people remained committed to the Ogoni Bill of Rights, the group reported that herdsmen now kill and rape in Ogoni areas. They also called for provision of water, light and other amenities in Ogoni as well as rebuild the East-West Road which passes through the area.

The communiqué declared the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) as a fraud and clear evidence that the government was not prepared to clean up Ogoni.

Ultimatum

The group gave a 60-day ultimatum for the FG and its allies in the oil industry to attend to the listed grievances or face a landmark court case. The statement said that the MOSOP-USA has given the FG (and its allies in the oil industry) 60 days or be ready for all legal actions against the Nigerian State and her collaborators who had allegedly turned Ogoni into a wasteland and pushed her citizens into untold hardship and near extinction.