Stakeholders Want Obsolete Oil Facilities Decommissioned In Ogoniland

Some stakeholders in Ogoniland under the aegis of Pan Ogoni Renaissance Movement have called on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) to decommission all obsolete facilities in Ogoniland.
They said this at a recent media briefing in Port Harcourt.
The stakeholders also called for the provision of potable drinking water to all communities in Ogoniland as recommended by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Queen of Ogoniland, Queen Georgiana Tenalo urged individuals and companies interested in oil exploration in the area not to knock the heads of the people together, but allow them to settle their differences.
Queen Tenalo also condemned the shoddy implementation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report on the cleanup of Ogoniland.
Tenalo who was Pioneer President of the Federation of Ogoni Women Association (FOWA), also decried the absence of potable drinking water in Ogoniland.
She said no community in Ogoniland can boast of a potable drinking water, stressing that the situation has made the communities to be vulnerable to waterborne diseases.
Tenalo also said communities in Ogoniland have lost their sources of livelihood following the devastation of their land by oil exploration and production.
According to her, the people are now beggars as they have nothing to fall back on.
She called on the government to expedite action on the clean-up exercise with a view to restoring the environment.
Tenalo also described as unacceptable the decision by the Federal Government to grant pardon to Ken Saro-Wiwa and other Ogonis executed by the Sani Abacha Military junta, arguing that what the Ogoni people want is complete exoneration of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the other Ogonis.
She also called for November 10 every year to be declared as a public holiday in Nigeria.

By: John Bibor