A group, the
Ogoni Solidarity Forum (OSF), has called for a fresh environmental assessment
of the area before the clean-up begins.
Its founder,
Celestine Akpobari, told The Guardian that there had been 189 oil spills in
Ogoniland after the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report was
published about six years ago.
He stated
that it would be ludicrous to base the intended clean-up of Ogoni environment
on the over six years old report, which he said, could not be in sync with the
current environmental realities of the area.
Akpobari
emphasised that there was need for reassessment of the environment before the
Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) embarks on the actual
clean-up exercise, which The Guardian learnt would not commence this year due
to some administrative hitches.
He said that
while the UNEP report on Ogoniland could still be relied on for clue on the
extent of damage done to the environment, it could not be validly relied on to
serve as the basis for any environmental remediation that will be sustainable.
The
environmental and human rights activist said Ogoni would resist any attempt to
commence oil exploitation and exploration in the area until a proper clean-up
of the entire area had been carried out.
“Until you
clean up the mess that has been generated by the oil companies. Until you clean
up that mess, there will be no need to restart oil production in Ogoni and it
will not happen in our own life-time. No amount of money or bribe can make oil
production resume in Ogoni.
“We cannot
kill Ken Saro-Wiwa the second time,” he said.
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