Continue From Where Birabi, Saro Wiwa Stopped, Amaechi Tells Ogonis

Rivers State Governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has charged the people of Ogoni ethnic nationality to set aside individual differences and work together to propel the development of the area.

Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi made the call yesterday, during a Town Hall meeting with Ogoni people at Bori, the traditional headquarters of Ogoni Kingdom, which was called to intimate Ogonis on United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) activities in Ogoniland.

The Governor, who said that the state government expects the leaders of Ogoniland to be selfless in their service to the people, recalled the great contributions of late Paul Naakuu Birabi and late Ken Saro Wiwa to the development of Ogoni and urged others to continue from where they stopped.

He explained that the state and Federal Governments have worked hard to actualize the request for an international organization like UNEP to carry out cleaning and remediation of oil spill sites in Ogoniland.

The governor, therefore, urged the people to cooperate with UNEP to enable them achieve their mission of cleaning and remediating oil spills in Ogoniland, noting that the state government is determined to ensure that the project is successful.

Governor Amaechi said that the Ogoni people were the first, after Isaac Adaka Boro, to start the Niger Delta struggle, pointing out that the state government’s decision to develop Ogoniland was based on their pioneering efforts in the Niger Delta struggle.

The State Chief Executive enjoined the leaders of the Ogonis to stop their children from further destruction of their environment, through illegal bunkering activities as it would damage the ecosystem, emphasizing that “we need you to check crime among the people”.

He urged them to cooperate with the state government to develop the area and announced that the Bori General Hospital would be renovated and equipped in next year to serve the people in addition to the health centres located in various parts of Ogoniland.

Also speaking, the representative UNEP, Mr Mike Cowing said the organization, which has been in Ogoniland on the invitation of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua since 2006, had carried out series of consultations and is now set to commence the study of the environment as requested by the Ogoni people.

The study, according to him, would be carried out with the highest international standard, stressing that it would be the building block for a comprehensive cleaning and remediation of spills in Ogoniland while examination of about 350 contaminated soil samples in the area would commence next week.

Mr Cowing, who lauded the support UNEP has received from the President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi and other stakeholders, added that they would partner with the Rivers State Polytechnic, the Rivers State University of Science and Technology and the University of Port Harcourt in the implementation of the challenging project.

Earlier, in an address presented by the Ogoni people and read on their behalf by the former Commissioner for Education, Mr Tom Orage, the Ogonis expressed confidence that with the visit of the Governor, the intervention by President Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua and UNEP is on course and that their legitimate expectation will be given proper attention.

The people who stated categorically that the process of the cleaning and remediation by UNEP was not in any way paving way for SHELL’s re-entry into Ogoniland, used the occasion to request for infrastructural development such as electricity, water, industrial poles and roads among others.