OIL EXPLORATION IN OGONILAND
By Blessing Wikina
This discussion, for years, has been left in the hands of jobbers, and persons with an assumed entitlement tag, for too long, to the point where they begin to assume themselves as oracles of Ogoniland.
But nobody is an oracle. Nobody has the monopoly of opinion on this matter, apart from the traditionally recognised institutions who have the mandate to speak for the people. Every son and daughter of Ogoni is a stakeholder in the project Ogoni.If you traverse the length and breadth of Ogoni today, naked poverty would stare you in the face, not because the land is not richly blessed, not because the people are lazy or don’t know anything, decades of neglect from successive governments of the day at Federal, State and Local affected the area negatively .
Ogoni land is one of the biggest testament of government failure anywhere in the world today. But should we all die and wither away just because we’re waiting for a slumbering government to wake up to its responsibility?
Would it not be foolhardy for anyone to die of thirst while he sits in an ocean of water? Heaven help those who help themselves as they say. this is a time to help ourselves.
I don’t think it makes any sense for our loved ones to suffer and die in penury while we sit on a land rich in milk and honey.
Throwback
I recall years ago, a cathartic effect I had, while watching a TV program on AIT in which many stakeholders endorsed the resumption of oil exploration in Ogoni land.
As of then, Felix Mamode Akugha, AIT’s media anchor, was reporting directly from the Palace of the Gbene Mene Tai, King G. N. K. Gininwa(of Blessed Memories ) as the Supreme Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers, the highest decision-making body in the land, endorsed the resumption of oil exploration in Ogoni, and there was not a single voice of dissent.
All the recognised youth bodies in Ogoni had then come together under the umbrella of National Youth Council of Ogoni People (NYCOP), and spoke in favour of the resumption of exploration activities.
There was a combination of unity and visionary leadership on display.
They say what an elder sees sitting down is more than what a child sees standing on an Iroko tree. The world economy today is fast moving away from oil, and any good Elder would align the future of his people with those of the rest of the world for progress.
Today, Many thanks to the President Tinubu initiated Ogoni Dialogue Committee, led by Prof Don Baridam, ArchBishop Ignatius Katey, Hon Joe Poroma, and Tom Orage, who discharged their assignment acceptably, as they combed Ogoni consulting everyone. They were reachable, accessible, approachable and ready to discuss. Maybe spirits were consulted too.
France, U.K. and Norway, etal, have all given loud notice to ban petrol cars from between 2025-2040 as they tweak their policies in favour of electric and alternative energy in their countries.
Even though Nigeria and other developing countries may still depend on oil for sometime, how much value would the product have when the major economies stop depending on it?
We saw how the rapidly growing production of US Shale Oil affected the global oil price not too long ago, making that country less and less dependent on Nigerian crude oil.
So the future of the world lies far away from fossil fuel, and nobody who is properly enlightened and genuinely loves Ogoni people would want us to occupy the unenviable position of a people who not only wasted their God-given natural resources but who, like the story of five talents in the Bible, did nothing with it or simply buried it underground.
So oil exploration should resume again, and it must start immediately.
There is nothing government would do for us now that can speed up the process of development in the area more than the presence of major oil industry activities, plus it’s downstream multiple actions.
Bori, the traditional headquarters of Ogoni people, has only two banks, and I can count on one hand the number of banks in Khana, Tai, Gokana and Eleme (Minus Onne Oil and Gas Free Zone).
This is not because those banks hate the Ogoni people. It is also not about violence and crime in the area caused by poverty, but mainly because our 1.5 million poor population, without alternative asset base, cannot sustain the presence of a bank as much as oil industries can.
If they come, and open more Bank branches, they will collapse for lack of major cash movements. Bonny is just beside us, and daily cash transactions, bill payments etc is in Billions. You could see and believe freshness, happiness, and laughter amongst them. Warri people say “money nah man”
If you want speedy development then there must be investments that drive economic activities to the area.
Producing, transporting, Refining, and marketing one barrel of oil alone creates about 6,000 local investment opportunities, so imagine what would happen when exploration and extraction, starts in the Ogoni area again.
Those who were benefiting from the status quo, and laptop militants had earlier used the Clean-up of Ogoni as an excuse saying “Clean-up before Exploration”.
Now that item had been ticked, but they forgot to add that the Clean-up would take 30 years, and by that time no serious country would be importing oil again.
Who says clean up and exploration cannot start alongside each other? The Ogoni Bill of Rights did not say clean up must start first before exploration, neither did it say exploration should not happen at all.
All we need is a fair deal from the companies coming in, a deal that stands up to global best practices. Nothing more, nothing less.
We must trust the process, and outcome of The Ogoni Dialogue Committee Facilitators, and urge the coordinating office of the National Security Advisor, Alhaji Nuhu Ribadu, to continue with this team until the first new Christmas Tree is installed again.
Dere, Bomu, and Bodo West Wells of Gokana, plus Ogale, Ebubu, Ejamaa fields in Eleme, and Korokoro facilities in TÃ i, as well as Yorla fields in Khana axis near Kono my village, want to breathe again the air of prosperity.
The insignificant number of persons who are masquerading via statements opposed to exploration should know they’re not serving the interest of their people.
Ogoni laptop militants who are issuing statements trying to delay the process as a way to make personal profits and political gains out of it should also know they’re joking with the future of a people.
The Positions of the communities canvassed publicly, orally, and in documents presented to the Ogoni Dialogue Committee is superior and had buried such personal insincere desires
Those sponsoring unscrupulous elements who we know can not do any of the things they’re doing on their own should, also know they can’t get in the way of Ogoni progress.
When it comes to oil exploration in Ogoni, like some of my friends would say, the time is now!
“We no drink our oil. We go use am for development, now.”
Wikina, a communications manager, writes from Port Harcourt.
