Why Federal Government’s negotiation effort in Ogoni is failing – Fegalo Nsuke

The previous month, President Bola Tinubu announced his administration’s plan to resume oil exploration in Ogoniland about 30 years after oil companies were sent out of the region by the people over human rights violations and ecological destruction.

President Bola Tinubu met with notable stakeholders, including Rivers State Governor Similaye Fubara and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, before announcing the plan to the public.

Thereafter, he directed the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, to lead a negotiation team to meet stakeholders in the region and get the people to accept the resumption of oil exploration in the areas.

However, the federal government’s negotiation efforts seem to be failing in getting the cooperation of the people, as town hall meetings and congresses held by the office of the NSA have been disrupted by protests.

The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) was at the centre of the Ogoni struggle in the 1970s, and it paid with the lives of its internationally recognised President, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and other prominent members.

In an exclusive interview with Nairametrics, the current President of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke, argues that the negotiation led by the NSA is failing. He justifies the movement’s agitation on behalf of the Ogoni people and outlines what the government must do to get the people’s support.

Nairametrics: Is MOSOP against the resumption of oil drilling in Ogoniland? 

Fegalo Nsuke: MOSOP is not against the resumption of oil drilling in Ogoniland. In fact, when it comes to resuming oil production in Ogoni, I can tell you that MOSOP championed this cause for resumption of oil production, but it wasn’t without conditions, and it wasn’t without considering all of the challenges on the ground.

Nairametrics: What were the conditions given to the government by MOSOP? 

Fegalo Nsuke: We actually prescribed that there should be some discussion first on how we can address historical grievances. For example, we had this issue of pollution. Secondly, we’ve had the issue of the way the resources were being mismanaged and were not reflecting in the lives of the Ogoni people.

And then we had the 1995 killings and, in fact, the massive state persecution that led to the death of an estimated 4,000 persons. So, putting all of that together, you see that we have a whole lot of grievances that are pending.

Our expectation was that the government would address these issues like the economic issue. We were not objecting to oil production, but we demanded that a reasonable proportion of the resources that were being taken out of Ogoni be injected into Ogoni development.

We also prescribed that there should be an Ogoni Development Authority that can manage the funds and ensure that these funds are plugged into development projects in Ogoni. Address the issue of unemployment, address the issue of infrastructural decay, address issues of security, infrastructure, education, health, road network, and all of that. And also build a modern Ogoni city out of the present Ogoni.

Nairametrics: The President has assured that he would prioritise the development of Ogoni, and he has sent a team led by the NSA to negotiate with stakeholders in the region. How is the negotiation going? 

Fegalo Nsuke: I’m worried because I see resistance coming out of Ogoni, especially given what happened at the last so-called town hall meeting where youths protested against what they were doing.

That’s a sign that people are aggrieved and that this whole thing can, if not properly managed, become a social crisis. And the implications are huge. If we have that social crisis, first of all, it’s going to impact the national economy because it’s actually going to affect external investment to the Nigerian economy.

It’s going to put the country in a bad light, and it will drive away external investors.  And that’s one of the reasons why we wanted to drive this thing in a way that does not create any crisis.

But unfortunately, I see the Office of National Security Advisor being misinformed,d and it’s now getting involved with this whole thing. And that is why I’ve also called on Mr. President to say, look, Mr. President, it is better for the National Security Advisor to get out of this whole thing because the approach he is adopting is latent in crisis. We do not want that crisis.

Nairametrics: What do you mean there is a crisis coming? What is the office of the NSA not doing right? 

Fegalo Nsuke: The problem is with their approach. This approach of people waking up to assume a mandate that does not belong to them. When I speak as President of MOSOP, I know I have the mandate to do so. Now, you just find a situation where after people have made some effort, some 60 persons just go to Abuja and come back, and they are having discussions on oil production. Who gave them the mandate to go to Abuja in the first place to discuss that issue?

Every effort at getting oil production to resume was resisted. But when we came in 2019, we now started looking at how we can change the trajectory. And we came up with this model for Ogoni development, and the people embraced this. And after we have been able to get that done, all of a sudden, you now have this situation and attempt to hijack that process and come up with something. You don’t even know the direction they are taking.

They tell you we are engaging in discussions, but all of this whole thing is tailored towards a predetermined goal. Because I don’t even know what they are doing. So, how to get the people to align with the process is another big problem. And because they are scared of the people, they are alienating MOSOP from the discussions. Whereas it is our efforts that even made it possible for anyone to talk about oil production in Ogoni in the first place. No President of MOSOP ever talked about the resumption of oil production until we did. We started talking about it in 2019. And on the 2nd of January 2021, I wrote an article titled, “Ogoni, it is time to let the oil go.” That was the second public statement I made.

Nairametrics: Are you saying the people engaging the NSA are not representing the interests of the Ogoni people? 

Fegalo Nsuke: Who gave those people the right to negotiate? If you are talking about negotiation, I am an Ogoni and President of MOSOP, I should be able to choose who represents me.

You don’t impose yourself as a negotiator. I should have the right to say you can speak on the matters that affect me. We have not given that power, that authority, to anyone in that delegation that went to see Mr. President. So, they don’t have the right to speak for us. But here they are, imposing themselves on us, and that’s a problem.

I think that they are going to aggravate this situation, and they are going to be setting us back because we made significant progress. And I just hope that Ogoni does not return to 1993.

Nairametrics: What do you think the NSA and the President can do to have a successful negotiation and get the support of the people? 

Fegalo Nsuke: As a matter of fact, Mr. President has shown goodwill. He has shown that he is sincere about what he wants. But, you know, of course, he gets support from his aides. It is what his aides tell him that he does.

So, Mr. President doesn’t have any blame in this circumstance. What you are seeing is the fact that the Office of National Security is very conversant with the Ogoni Institution because you cannot run an Office of National Security without proper information on particular national issues like this. I can also tell you that we have also engaged the Office of National Security Advisor and briefed him properly, and we expected that the directive of Mr. President for inclusivity should have been taken seriously.

But the National Security Advisor has, in fact, shown some disrespect for the Office of the President by disregarding even our opinion on this. And even when I personally engaged him and told him that, look, we want to be involved in this process, and we want to see how we can guide this process to succeed, I have not seen the National Security Advisor take that advice very seriously. Whereas Mr. President has told him to go and get everybody involved in this discussion.

So, why are they excluding some people? They are excluding some people with the hope that they can manipulate the process and come up with some report and tell Ogoni people that Ogoni has agreed. That’s false. Ogoni hasn’t agreed with what the National Security Advisor is doing. The President is doing what he should do as President to resolve national issues, the NSA should do what he has been asked to do to get the support of the people.