By Obiabin Onukwugha
Chairman of the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, (NUPRC) Board, Senator Magnus Abe, has emphasised the need for Ogoni stakeholders to allow the federal government resume oil production so as to attract the needed development to the area and improve on the livelihoods of the people.
Abe made the submissions while delivering a goodwill message at a stakeholders engagement event to mark the 10th anniversary of the commencement of the Ogoni Cleanup, organized by the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project, HYPREP, at the Centre of Excellence in Nwiyakara, Khana local government area.
The NUPRC Board Chairman emphasised that Ogonis cannot continue to live in poverty when there is so much wealth deposits in their lands.
“This land that we are standing on, we all know that we are standing and sitting and living on wealth. Millions and millions of dollars worth of oil and gas is under our feet. But our children are poor, they have no jobs, our institutions are empty. You cannot live by the river and continue to use spits to try to take a bath. You will be dirty and you will keep smelling. You have to use the water,” he said.
Abe stated that despite Ogoni years of struggle, HYPREP has brought blessings to the area. “I would like to say that for us, as Ogoni people, HYPREP has been a blessing. It has taken us quite a while to get to this point, but I think it is important that we acknowledge that HYPREP has been a blessing to the Ogoni people.
“If you look around you, where we are today, this entire complex, and if you look at the hospital, you look at the remediation site, you look at the water projects, you look at all the things that have happened in Ogoni because of HYPREP, I think we should be grateful,” Abe stressed.
Abe noted President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to the Ogoni cleanup, saying,
“Today, we have a President, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who was himself part of the Ogoni struggle, and he has shown uncommon commitment to trying to resolve the Ogoni issues and to bring us back to our rightful place in the comity of states and nations in this country. Tinubu is committed to doing that for us. But nobody can do for you the things that you ought to do for yourself.”
Abe also decried the disagreements among Ogoni people, and emphasised the need for unity so as to build a better public image for themselves.
“Nobody can unite us. Nobody can lend us brains. Nobody can organise us. Nobody can strategise for us. All those things are things that we must do for ourselves. And I want to challenge our people, there is nowhere where everybody is a leader. It is not possible. Anywhere where everybody is a leader, you have already failed. And there is nowhere where one person knows everything. It is also not possible.
“We must work together. We must respect one another, and we must have our targets in sight. The prosperity and development of Ogoniland cannot wait for anybody anymore. We will move, and we must move together.
“So, I want to plead with all of us, you cannot like everybody, but you can respect everyone. We are not the only people that have differences, but we are the only people whose every difference is played out in social media and on radio, and none of our positives are highlighted in the same way our negatives are. If you have a family and every day you talk, everything you say about your family is bad, will you be angry tomorrow when people start looking down on your family? You cannot be angry because you imported that into the family.
“My dear Ogoni people, it is time for us to take advantage of the love that the President is showing to us, it is time for us to organise ourselves, it is time for us to prepare, and it is time for us to bring prosperity and progress into our land,” he stated.
The NUPRC Board Chairman thanked the Minister of Environment, Mallam Balarabe Lawal, for his physical presence and commitment to the Ogoni cleanup since assumption of office.
He also thanked the HYPREP Project Coordinator, Prof Nenibarini Zabbey for his doggedness and charged him not to be deterred by negative criticisms, saying, “It’s all part of what we see in leadership. But be rest assured that we are making progress, and we will continue to make progress.”
