Press
Release
Twenty-five experts have petitioned the Federal
Government of Nigeria to declare Ogoniland an ecological disaster zone and
clean up the environment.
The petition, signed by environmentalist Nnimmo
Bassey and other laureates of the Right Livelihood Award, (often referred to as
the the “Alternative Nobel Prize”), comes as controversy ignites over reports
that a Nigerian oil company, Belema Oil, may recommence oil extraction in
Ogoniland, over 20 years after Shell suspended its operations.
For the
full petition please refer to:
Ogoniland
is part of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Decades of oil extraction by
Shell and other companies left the area contaminated and polluted, with
residents complaining of health impacts, environmental destruction and the loss
of their livelihoods. Although Shell left Ogoniland in 1993, oil spills
continued to occur regularly.
A 2011 independent assessment by
the United Nations Environment Programme found that drinking water in wells was
contaminated with 900 times the World Health Organization’s recommended level
of the carcinogen, benzene, and that it would take between 25 and 30 years to
restore the environment.
“We are
concerned that almost four years after the release of the UNEP report, no
significant step has been taken to implement its recommendations,” stated
the laureates. “We are even shocked to learn of moves by corporate
interests to restart petroleum resource extraction in Ogoniland without first
looking at the question of environmental restoration…This development will only
compound the devastation and further diminish the livelihoods of the people and
their chance of enjoying their lives in dignity.”
The
laureates are also demanding that the Nigerian government provide potable water
for people in Ogoniland and commission an assessment of the entire Niger Delta
environment. They urge all countries to “learn from the Ogoni
ecological disaster and insist on free, prior and informed consent of citizens
in communities and territories where resources are found.”
While
some Ogoni community chiefs have reportedly been collecting signatures in
favour of resuming drilling, The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni
People, founded by Right Livelihood Award recipient Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1990, has
opposed Belema Oil’s interest in extracting oil in Ogoniland. Saro-Wiwa and 8
other Ogoni activists were executed by the military government of Sani Abacha
in 1995, amid international outrage.
“We
consider as appalling and provocative the role of Belema Oil in this whole
saga,” said Bari-ara Kpalap, Public Affairs Advisor to the MOSOP
President, Legborsi Saro Pyagbara, in a statement.
Environmental
activist and recipient of the 2010 Right Livelihood Award, Nnimmo Bassey, who
initiated the petition during a conference of Right Livelihood Award recipients
in India, said, "Any talk of reopening the oil fields in Ogoniland
without first addressing the ecological destruction that has been visited on
their territory amounts to a gross insult on the Ogoni and the memory of the
many Ogoni martyrs who shed their blood in the quest for dignity of their
people and the integrity of their environment."
For
interviews with Nnimmo Bassey, Director of Health of Mother Earth Foundation,
please contact:
+234 803
727 4395
For
interviews with MOSOP President, Legborsi Saro Pyagbara, please contact:
+234 803
339 2530
Zahra Moloo
Press Consultant for Africa
Right Livelihood Award Foundation
Box 15072
104 65 Stockholm,
Sweden
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