Groups demand better treatment for Ogoniland

United States-based organisations, including the National Union of Ogoni Students International (NUOS INT’L USA), the Centre for Democracy, Human Rights, and Anti-Corruption International (CDHRAC INTL USA), and the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), have reiterated their call for better treatments of the people of Ogoniland in Rivers State by the Federal Government.

The groups said that the people of Ogoniland have suffered years of environmental degradation despite the fact that they produce oil, the wealth of the nation.

The groups, which used the opportunity to congratulate President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on his forthcoming first anniversary in office, said it is not right to kill the chicken that lays the golden egg, adding that they cannot continue to suffer in silence and amid plenty.

The group said this in a statement jointly signed by the President of NOUS Int’l USA, Pius Barikpoa Nwinee; its Secretary General, Sampson B Npimnee; Coordinator, CDHRAC Int’l, USA, Cornelius Dumerenee, and its Secretary General, Toate Ganago.

They said the Federal Government and the Niger Delta Development Ministry must rise to the occasion and bring the long-awaited development to Ogoniland.

They emphasised that almost all the previous administrations in the country have done little or nothing to develop Ogoniland, which they said has been suffering deprivation owing to oil spillage and total neglect.

The groups maintained that the people of Ogoniland have suffered the devastation of their ecosystems and land.

They recalled that several oil companies, including Shell Oil, set up operations in the 1950s in Ogoniland and since then, their land, water, and air have been polluted to such a great extent that the Ogoni people’s livelihood is threatened.

“Between 1976 and 1991, over two million barrels of oil polluted Ogoniland in 2,976 separate oil spills. While oil production has ceased, pipelines operated by Shell Oil still traverse the land, creeks and waterways,” they said.