From Douglas Blessing, Port Harcourt
Oil and Gas host communities in Ogoniland has urged the federal government to relocate all impacted homes to another settlement due to the high level of environmental degradation, before any environmental activities on oil and gas business would be carried.
The communities made the demand in a letter to President Mohammadu Buhari and signed by the leaders of the oil host communities in Bera, Gokana LGA.
Speaking on behalf of the host communities, President of Ogoni Liberation Intiative, Dr Douglas Fabeke stated that they are ready to withdraw all pending cases in courts over various decrees of injuries meted to the Ogoniland and her people, if the federal government adhere to their demands.
Fabeke who spoke during the flag-off of Green Energy Revolution project in collaboration with Sun Energy Community Development Initiative, said the host communities would produce a drafted master-plan, which are the final resolutions of the Ogoni economic development recovery plans to Mr. President.
He said the master plan would serve as the blue-print and strategic models for the development of Ogoniland, cutting across agriculture, marine, aviation, health, power, water resources, environmental restoration and management, rducation, socio-political change, oil and gas, refinery, military, security formations and others.
“The Host Communities shall include in the final draft, the following developmental and impactful areas for Mr. President’s implementation, namely Scholarship, TrustFund, Payment of compensation
“Demonstration of practical steps for restoration of our polluted environment and development of the land through complete and total implementation of UNEP Report’s recommendations, including the emergency measures, which are neglected by the ongoing clean up exercise.
“Relocation of all Host Communities and impacted homes to another well settled location because of the high level of environmental degradation, before any environmental activities and oil and gas business should be carried.
“That the Host Communities and Ogoni Liberation Initiative are ready to withdraw all pending cases in courts over various decrees of injuries meted to the Ogoniland and her people, if the Government actually demonstrates sincerity of purpose in the implementation all our requests, including payment of compensation benefits.
“That the Government should take cognizance of the fact that since the invasion of Shell in Ogoniland in 1958, we have suffered tremendously without commensurate pay for our tapped natural economic resources.
The letter appealed to the President to fulfill his words, thus, “Commitment to ensuring clemency and national integration as part of his administration’s bid to lay the foundation for genuine reconciliation and bring closure to the issues of Ogoniland.”
On the pronouncement of grant of pardon to Late Ken Saro-Wiwa, he said the expectation of the people is for complete Exoneration and not pardon.
“The expectation of the people is for complete exoneration and not pardon because these people were killed 10days after judgment without room for appeal, that was supposed to be 30days.
“We all know that what transpired in the 1990 resulting to the tragic loss of our resourceful martyrs and ugly judicial processes were globally condemnable, even as one of the pronouncements in the judgment gave them the prerogative to appeal the case within reasonable time, but were killed 10 days after the judgment, not accepting pleas from international community.”
Meanwhile, Dr Fabeke said the training of the Youths in Green Energy would reduce youth restiveness and also curb air/noise pollution cause by Generators.
