…says no going back on oil exploration return in Ogoni
The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has called on the Federal Government to stop the alleged looting going on at the Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP), the agency handling the cleanup of polluted sites in Ogoniland.
MOSOP president, Fegalo Nsuke, who spoke to the New Telegraph, claimed that rather than focus on cleaning up Ogoni, HYPREP has failed to discharge its duties, noting that Ogoni are worse off for it.
Nsuke said: “The UNEP report is not rightly implemented. What we have is a fraudulent scheme that is diverting the cleanup funds. There is nothing to show for the cleanup itself outside the propaganda of HYPREP…
“I think the bigger problem with the cleanup is that the government is not acting right despite the complaints we have raised. For example, President Buhari ordered an audit of HYPREP.
“Where is the report? The looting is continuing and the government might have discovered that releasing the report would seriously damage its anti-corruption stance, so they kept quiet.
“We expect funding for HYPREP to be halted and a proper audit is undertaken. Then a new leadership will be constituted with specific mandates on milestones to be achieved. We have seen that giving HYPREP the freedom to do what they like allows them to divert the funds and claim they trained people.
“How can you be asked to clean surface and underground pollution and you use the money to train pilots while the people still live with the pollution and cannot find water to drink? That is financial misappropriation.
“So what we expect is to say the least, President Tinubu will sack the current management of HYPREP and work out a competent team that is ready to execute the UNEP report appropriately.”
He added that: “There are two key components of the clean-up itself. The surface pollution and the underground pollution, which is affecting the drinking water sources.
“You do not use laterite to cover surface pollution and claim you have cleaned the place. What happens to the thick layer of oil that sits on our underground water which we drink every day?”
The MOSOP president also said there is no going back to the resumption of oil exploration in Ogoniland in line with the majority of Ogoni people who need development rather than retardation.
He said that after years of meetings with critical stakeholders in Ogoni, the people resolved to drive forward development through the Ogoni Development Authority (ODA), noting that the people no longer want to be exploited by some individuals who profit from the Ogoni struggles.
He said: “There is currently a desperation to frustrate and hijack Ogoni Development Authority. Their usual strategy is to incite internal conflicts and use it as an excuse to intervene. The next thing you hear is a committee to address the conflicts and incorporate the views of everyone, even people who do not know the definition of MOSOP will be out to resolve the problem, and it ends up in their pockets.
“So, exploiting people, misinforming them and keeping them in perpetual slavery to always hijack and spoil what others have worked for is the modus operandi of some unprogressive Ogonis. But I am glad that the people now know they have been exploited in the past and the idea is overwhelmingly accepted. We will certainly win.
“But there are people whose whole lives depend on the conflicts. Some of them were the president of MOSOP. They wish we could sustain the agitation, and send them to the governing council of HYPREP and they continue to make money while we keep being heroes of the struggle.
“These are the people who trade with us and generate internal conflicts with the hope that they can frustrate us. Unfortunately for them, that is no longer tenable. No more will that slavery continue.”
