PH Mundial – Port Harcourt Online Newspaper News across the Niger Delta
Related Articles
By: Mandy Tina
The Ogoni Liberation Initiative has accused the previous Rivers State administration led by Nyesom Wike and unnamed individuals of misappropriating a $300 million compensation allegedly paid by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) for Oil Mining Lease (OML) 11.
The group called on President Bola Tinubu to urgently intervene to prevent what it described as the “extinction” of the Ogoni people.
In a statement signed by its President and CEO, Dr. Douglas Fabeke, the group claimed that the payment, facilitated under the former Group Managing Director of NNPCL, Mele Kyari, was intended as compensation to Ogoni communities but was diverted without proper consultation or documentation.
“There is no evidence of community engagement or settlement agreements, and the communities were never involved in the process,” the statement read. “The previous administration in Rivers State acted in collaboration with individuals falsely claiming to represent Ogoni interests.”
Dr. Fabeke said the Ogoni Liberation Initiative played a central role in the legal victory that saw the Federal Government and NNPCL prevail over Shell in a Supreme Court ruling over the OML 11 asset. He noted that several consultative meetings and resolutions were made involving oil-bearing communities, yet none of the promises made by NNPCL and NPDC management were fulfilled.
The group also criticized the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) over alleged mismanagement of funds from the $1 billion allocated for environmental cleanup efforts in Ogoni land. It alleged that unqualified companies were contracted for the cleanup and that several of the sites reportedly remediated do not exist.
“We have traced nine questionable transactions totaling $366 million from the Ogoni Trust Fund through various accounts and companies,” Fabeke stated. “Additionally, over N27 billion allegedly spent on water projects in some communities has delivered substandard and unsafe drinking water.”
He further cited a poor rating of HYPREP by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), calling it proof of widespread failure in project execution and oversight.
The group demand the following: A public audit and full disclosure on the $300 million compensation deal, and an independent probe into the diversion of funds. A forensic audit of HYPREP’s spending since 2016.
They also asked for the restructuring and renaming HYPREP as the “Ogoni Restoration Authority”, dissolution of HYPREP’s Governing Council and Board of Trustees and exoneration of the late Ken Saro-Wiwa and the other Ogoni eight.
Dr. Fabeke reaffirmed the group’s support for President Tinubu’s administration, expressing hope that the Ogoni people’s decades-long struggle for justice, environmental restoration, and economic empowerment would finally be addressed.
“We will continue to mobilize support for your government and for the unity of Nigeria. The Ogoni people have suffered enough. It’s time for justice,” he said.
