BusinessDay 21 Jan 2018

24 BD SUNDAY
C002D5556 Sunday 21 January 2018
Interview
Why we kick against environmental
terrorism – MOSOP president
Legborsisaro Pyagbara is a well-baked environmental fighter and third president of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), who
joined the Ogoni struggle as far back as 1990 to launch the Ogoni Bill of Rights. Pyagbara and his MOSOP body recently staged a media round table on
UNEP Report: Emergency measures and the clean-up process of Ogoni land where MOSOP described what is happening in Ogoni as pure ‘environmental
terrorism and threat to national security’. Our correspondent, GODWIN EGBA, captured the mind-boggling narrative. Excerpts:
IGNATIUS CHUKWU
What does
MOSOP
mean by
environmental
terrorism in its recent outcry
in terms of national
security?
MOSOP is concerned
about recent reports about
the purported approval for
the release of the sum of
$1billion from the Excess
Crude Account to fight insurgency
in the North East.
MOSOP totally condemns
this flagrant display of discrimination,
demonstration
of crass insensitivity and total
neglect of some sections of
the country. Coming on the
heels of the paltry allocation
to the much-hyped budget for
the governance framework
of HYPREP, it once again
demonstrates that the Nigeria
state clearly has two sets of
citizens in the country; those
that deserve proper treatment
and those that should
be treated as slaves. This goes
contrary to the spirit and
letters of the International
Convention on the Elimination
of Racial Discrimination
and Related Intolerances
(ICERD) for which Nigeria is
a signatory.
How do you interpret this
so-called environmental terrorism
in the Niger-Delta in
relation to activities of the
Boko Haram in the North-
East of the country?
MOSOP believes that the
environmental terrorism going
on in the oil region is far
more serious than the Boko
Haram insurgency in the
North-East because in the
environmental terrorism,
no blood is spilled, no bone
is broken yet thousands of
human beings, animals, trees,
and herbs are dying daily
through pollution of the environmental
terrorism. Several
groups have called for allocation
of funds for the total
clean-up of the Niger-Delta
and this has not been heeded
to. Even the release of funds
for the Ogoni Clean Up has
also not been effected. This
type of discriminatory allocation
of resources and projects
is not healthy for all of us and
should be condemned and
rejected.
What is MOSOP’s grouse
with the Federal Government’s
efforts so far with the
clean up?
Whilst we appreciate the
federal government’s efforts
so far, we are deeply concerned
about the slow pace
of the implementation of the
report occasioned by unnecessary
bureaucracy, lack of
independence and funding.
It is time to break down bureaucratic
bottlenecks that
are hampering the effective
implementation of the UNEP
report. HYPREP must immediately
put in place a process
that will address the implementation
of emergency
measures needed to deal with
the critical issues of water,
health, and infrastructure
as a matter of priority. Ogoni
cannot continue to drink the
poisoned water that is threatening
its life and that of its
future generations.
Forgiving creates peace
and bonding, why is MOSOP
holding on to its trigger
against Shell?
Legborsi-Saro-Pyagbara - MOSOP Leader
In 1990, the Ogoni people
initiated their struggle with
the launch of the Ogoni Bill
of Rights on August 26, 1990
which dearly delineated the
issues and demands of the
Ogoni people. This includes
the operations of the oil industry.
This was followed
by series of public actions including
non-violent proteststhat
took place across Ogoni
land in 1993 and beyond
which forced the Shell Petroleum
Development Company
(SPDC), the then main opera-
tor of the Ogoni oil block, pull
out of Ogoni land.
MOSOP also raised issues
of not being carried along in
the cleaning project; is that
correct?
Apart from the issue of
massive environmental pollution
that attended Shell’s
operations in Ogoni land
which were raised by MOSOP,
the Ogoni people raised serious
concerns about the total
lack of effective participation
of the people in the entire
value chain of the oil industry
activities in the land,
denial of involvement in key
decision-making process of
the industry, discriminatory
hiring practices, and absence
of a clear and focused Community
Development Agreements
(CDAs) and Community
Benefit Sharing Agreements
(CBAs) that recognises
the rights of communities
to Free, Prior and Informed
Consent (FPIC). Ever since
1990 we have been striving
for effective participation of
the Ogoni people in the development
process as is now
widely obtained globally in
the 21st Century.
Is dialogue as conflict resolution
option not considerable?
Whilst MOSOP is open to
discussions relating to the resumption
of oil production in
Ogoni, MOSOP totally rejects
the present approach of the
Federal Government through
its oil production wing, the
Nigeria National Petroleum
Company (NNPC) resorting to
the old divide-and-rule tactics
which it had used and failed
before in an attempt to cause
a renewed polarization of the
Ogoni community and pitch
them against one another.
This approach is completely
condemnable and detestable
and will be totally resisted