PRESS RELEASE:
The umbrella organization of the Ogoni people, The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) wishes to express its pleasure over the renewed commitment of the federal government to speedily commence the implementation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report on Ogoniland.
MOSOP is particularly delighted at the new spirit of cooperation and commitment to results shown by the Honorable Minister for Environment, Mrs. Amina Mohammed during her visit to Ogoniland.
We also wish to convey to the Federal Government the unreserved pledge of the Ogoni people to cooperate with all stakeholders and relevant agencies that will be involved in the project implementation.
We note that the delay in the implementation of the UNEP report has had some damaging consequences on the health of our people including an increased mortality rate resulting from organ failures. We believe that these negative experiences could have been averted had the government given the desired attention to the report when it was released in August 2011.
We will be counting on the assurance given by the Honorable Minister for Environment that the implementation of the report will be launched by the present government within weeks.
Once again, we pledge our support and cooperation to the process and will expect all parties including the multinational oil companies to demonstrate similar dedication to and work towards the success of the programme.
