The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has accused the Nigerian government of sabotaging the country’s economy by failing to cooperate with MOSOP’s efforts to resolve the Ogoni conflicts in over 3 decades. President of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke while addressing a congress of MOSOP in Nweol, Gokana local government of Rivers State on Saturday said the government’s lackadaisical approach towards the proposals of MOSOP to discuss and resolve the Ogoni oil conflicts amounted to economic sabotage on the part of the government.
Nsuke urged the present government not to make the mistakes of General Sani Abacha who was misled by the Nigerian oil industry to think that the use of brute force will compel an end to the demand for basic rights made by the people. He said the oil industry in connivance with the Nigerian security and intelligence network misled Abacha to think that killing Saro-Wiwa will end the Ogoni agitation.
Nsuke said MOSOP has at different times initiated moves to resolve the problem which is now documented in its proposal for the operation of an Ogoni Development Authority (ODA) and urged the government to take advantage of this fine opportunity. He further noted that the longer the delay in discussing MOSOP’s proposals to address the problem, the more the Nigerian economy was suffering due to the huge revenue losses occasioned by the conflicts which forced Shell out of Ogoni in 1993.
“MOSOP has shown its readiness to make the necessary compromises required to achieve some common grounds that will help resolve the Ogoni problem by proposing the operation of an Ogoni development authority. The Nigerian government needs to complement our efforts by accepting our proposed talks so we can move forward” Nsuke said.
“The longer it takes to resolve this problem, the more the Nigerian economy and the Ogoni people suffer. We expect the government to show its commitment to the welfare of the people by accepting talks on our proposals to facilitate a resolution of this protracted problem” he said.
The MOSOP president assured the Ogoni people that the operation of an ODA will benefit the Ogoni people and fulfill Ogoni desires for development and economic security. He further said the ODA will also be beneficial to the governments and the Nigerian people.
The Central Committee of MOSOP had on September 28, 2020 approved the operation of an Ogoni Development Authority as an acceptable framework for the resolution of all lingering problems in Ogoni.
On the Ogoni cleanup, the MOSOP president said the programme was a certified fraud which had been destroyed by endemic state corruption. He welcomed the directive by the president for an audit of HYPREP and urged the president to halt further funding for HYPREP until the ongoing audit is completed and the organisation’s operations are reorganised to give room to transparency.
Nsuke said it was unfortunate that the Ogoni people have lost confidence in the Ogoni cleanup exercise which they labored and worked to actualize. He said it is regrettable that the corruption in HYPREP dashed the hopes the people had in the cleanup programme.
