Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has described Nigeria’s celebration of the Ogoni cleanup exercise as shameful and hyprocritical Image laundering effort targeted at forcing oil production in Ogoni without the consent of the Ogoni people and enrichment of the cleanup Programme managers.
Reacting to the announcement of a N3.039billion cleanup contact awarded by the federal government, President of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke said the Ogoni people have lost confidence in the process as it lacks transparency, does not prioritize the needs of the Ogoni people and is driven by benefits accruing to the managers of the cleanup process.
The MOSOP president said it is sad, pitiable and regrettable that Nigeria is not only celebrating our deaths and pains but people are also using it to enrich themselves in the name of a cleanup exercise.
Nsuke said what Nigeria and Shell has done to the Ogoni people demands that they be apologetic and they should be ashamed of their conduct and not be on national television celebrating corporate irresponsibility and award of contracts to companies, some of which represent the interests of the cleanup managers.
Nsuke maintained that the UNEP report had water provision as the top most priority for the Ogoni people and then recommended the construction of facilities to handle the contaminated soil, all of these are not in place.
The MOSOP president insisted that the Ogoni people want water and the soil management center immediately before the award of contracts nothing that government was only interested in the award of contracts because it serves their interests and not that of the Ogoni people.
Nsuke called for a total review of the cleanup process as it it’s currently driven by personal interests and not serving the wishes of the Ogoni people.
While maintaining that the cleanup will end up to be Nigeria’s biggest scam, the MOSOP president accused the Nigerian government of being hypocritical about Ogoni as the real target of government and Shell was to use every means available including the scandalous cleanup exercise to resume oil production in Ogoni without the consent of the Ogoni people.
