Restoring Environmental Justice and Affection in Ogoni Land

Abstract

Restoring environmental justice and affection in Ogoni land is a serious task that needs accomplishment. Ogoni land is facing terrible environmental degradation. The Ogoni have sought more political autonomy and compensation for environmental damage to their land by oil companies since 1990. Their campaign, against Shell Oil Company which has extracted an estimated US $30 billion of oil from Ogoni land since 1958 has been met with force and extreme violence by Nigeria's military government.  Protesters have been jailed, killed and silenced for demonstrating against the multi-national company.  For example, Ken Saro-Wiwa, leader of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) was jailed and subsequently killed and accused of inciting members of the group to kill four Ogoni elders.  However, his more likely crime is his effort to organize the Ogoni ethnic minority to stop destruction of their home land caused by operations of Shell and Chevron, the multinational oil companies, and seek compensation for his people's lost of farm land and fisheries. This work is intended to look into the effort Federal Government of Nigeria is making to restore environmental justice and the disaffection caused by the activities of oil multinational companies in Ogoni land. Apart from the clean up exercise Federal Government is embarking in Ogoni land, this paper recommends adequate compensation to the people of Ogoni, the amnesty granted the Niger Delta militants by the then Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’adua’s administration to continue so that the boys can stay away from the creeks and carry out the meaningful ventures provided by the amnesty programme following the complain of irregularities on the part of those in charge of the programme.