Ogoni youths back resumption of oil exploration in Ogoniland

The National Youth Council of Ogoni People (NYCOP) has announced that it has initiated multi-stakeholder negotiations on oil resumption in Ogoniland. The group made this disclosure during a mega rally organized in support of the “Ogoni Economic Rebirth Project,” held in Bori, Khana Local Government Area, Rivers State, on Sunday.

According to the group, the Ogoni Economic Rebirth Project presents unique opportunities for the Ogoni indigenous Exploration and Production company to collaborate with financial and technical partners of great repute in the industry to secure the lease to operate the assets within the Ogoni oil fields.

In a statement signed by its President and Secretary-General, Barinuazor Emmanuel and Fred Mene Elijah, respectively, and 10 others, NYCOP stated that it was time for Ogoni to join the comity of nations to enjoy its natural deposits.

Emmanuel noted that stakeholders should collaborate to make hay while the sun shines, arguing that the modern world is already shifting away from dependence on oil and gas to renewable energy.

He said, “We cannot be sitting on a pot of gold while we continue to die in hunger.”

The NYCOP President explained that the Ogoni Economic Rebirth Project is a matter of the moment, saying that Ogoni has risen to avail herself of the wealth-creating opportunities offered by the Nigerian Oil and Gas Content Development Act, 2010 (Local Content Act, 2010), and further upheld by the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 (PIA 2021).

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He stressed, “Effective participation is our watchword under the unique auspices of the ‘Ogoni Economic Rebirth Project.’ Ogoni people are very peaceful and law-abiding people, and our entire vision will be pursued from the engagement stage to the actualization stage, within the ambit of the law.”

“We call on all well-meaning Ogoni sons and daughters to open their minds and shun every deceitful ploy by commercial activists and visionless high-grade racketeers who would often parade under the toga of leaders.”

The resumption of oil production in Ogoni oil fields, worth about 200,000 barrels per day (bbl/d), has dominated recent discussions among development stakeholders in the area after several decades of production stoppage due to disagreement between the people, on one hand, and Shell Petroleum Development Company and the Nigerian government on the other.

On January 4, 1993, about 300,000 Ogoni people protested peacefully against Shell and oil pollution.

Shell hasn’t pumped oil from most of its wells since then, but its pipelines still run through Ogoniland, intermittently spilling crude and polluting the environment.