Ogoni People (Nigeria): Crime arrived with the PipelineRashard L. Rabsatt, Gettysburg College,

ANTH 223- Indigenous Peoples, the Environment, and the Global Economy

Location of Ogoni PeopleIndicated with red dot(Southern Nigeria, Gulf of Guinea Coast, Niger Delta*)www.joshuaproject.net

Who are the Ogoni?

The Ogoni are a distinct fishing and agricultural society that has inhabited the Niger Delta for over five-hundred years. Residing in Ogoniland which covers the River State along the Gulf of Guinea eastward to the city of Port Harcourt, the Ogoni number at about five-million. Speaking all of Khana, Gokana, Tai (Tree), Ban Ogoi, and Eleme the indigenous group communicates well which has strengthened their internal political structure. Within Ogoni households, there is a hierarchy of family where the father is the head of the household, the mother is second in command followed by the children in descending order of age. It is no secret that the Ogoni people have been victims to human rights violations for years.

In 1901, some years after the Berlin Treaty (1885) making Nigeria a colony under British rule, the British arrived in Ogoniland where the two groups experienced an instant culture clash. Ogoni began showing early resistance, but less equipped with artillery, the Ogoni people were subjugated in 1914. The Ogoni who practice sustainability highly respect their fertile land along the Gulf of Guinea, and for this reason deforestation, toxic oil, spills, and other ways which international groups practice degradation of their environment. Water is worshiped as an essential life force that strengthens and bind together the Ogoni community, which explains the importance of rivers and more importantly the Niger Delta. Harvest season is more than just an agricultural activity but rather a religious, spiritual, and prosperous time where they worship and thank God for blessings, especially the yams, which is regarded as the fruit of the land. (Saro-Wiwa: 1989) The Ogoni have never profited from the most profitable export in Nigeria, oil. As a result of pipeline installation, oil spills, and gas flaring, the Niger Delta is no longer the “fruit basket” to the Ogoni affecting agricultural production, biodiversity, and soil fertility. Due to corruption and “back door” negotiations, the Nigerian government has not made the Ogoni a concern, but rather oil exports as paramount.

Threats to the Ogoni?“Our struggle is about social change, and change has come to Ogoni not minding

what the enemies thinks and says. All we need is to keep pushing. Consistency and honesty, integrity and not mediocrity will take us to the promise land. Change is no doubt in Ogoni though will take some time for our people and especially those who

have set up harsh ladders for the less privileged to climb while protecting the status quo, to adjust or adapt.”

Ben Ikari (The Nigerian Voice Newsletter)

•Gentrification / Poor property rights •Urbanization triggered by oil industry has also displaced the Ogoni, destroying their land•Oil drilling (Shell Oil Company, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation•Military Repression (General Sani Abacha)•Corruption of Government- “Back door” negotiations with oil companies and funding of both weapons and vehicles•Deforestation of rain forests- clear land for agricultural purposes (farming) •Expensive cost of food, seeds, labor for Farmers•Job competition with outside oil workers

Shell Oil Company vs. The Ogoni

Shell Oil Company and the Ogoni have experienced years of dispute due to the detrimental affect pipeline installations and oil spills has had on their fertile land. In 1953, Shell discovered southern Nigeria as a source for oil where they began drilling. Shell immediately began building pipelines not only through farmlands, but residential areas of their choice resulting in urbanization. Historically, Shell has brought a tremendous, irreplaceable environmental devastation to the Ogoni and other local indigenous groups. As pipeline installation increased it brought about environmental assault including acid rain, natural gas flaring, oil spills, and health issues.

In Ogoniland, 95% of extracted natural gas is flared, whereas in the United States only 0.6% of our extracted gas is flared. Many environmentalists have come to the conclusions that the methane and carbon dioxide from gas flaring are partly responsible for global warming issues today. In a 1996 issue of “Africa Today” is has been reported that 40% of the world’s oil spills have occurred in the Niger Delta, the heart of Ogoniland. (Project Underground: 1996). During an investigation, World Bank discovered levels of hydrocarbon pollution, water contamination, and decline of native sea creatures. To influence landowners, Shell would compensate them with amounts unequal to the value of their land when building pipelines through their communities. The Nigerian Environmental Study Action Team has connected higher rates of asthma, other respiratory diseases, and cancer to the fumes and combustion gases to which the population is exposed to. The Nigerian government allows permits this because 80% of their revenue is from oil and also because Shell provides the military with funding and arms. In 1990, Shell specifically requested the military protect its facilities from protesters in the village of Umeuchem. The year 2009, marked the end of a trial between Shell and the Ogoni community ,where Shell cowardly decided to settle out of court for $15 million rather than court. The $15 million doesn’t compensate for 500,000 Ogoni individuals suffering from decades of pollution, persecution, and human rights abuses. Evidently, Shell is trying to bury the horrific facts of the 1970’s and 1980’s. With new cases coming up, now the lesson is that justice and reparation can be obtained abroad and international help is on the rise for the Ogoni and their quest for justice. (Cayford: 1996)

Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP)

Founded in 1909, with the purpose of campaigning non-violently, The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) is a non-governmental, non-political organization which promotes democratic awareness while protecting the rights of the Ogoni people. Headed by Nigerian author and environmentalist Ken Saro- Wiwa, MOSOP acted diligently proposing the Ogoni Bill of Rights in 1990, which the Nigerian government still rejects to this day. The Ogoni Bill of Rights lists the following as the Ogoni concerns: environmental degradation, governmental neglect, political marginalization, fair share of revenue due to their natural resources, and misery. Suffering years of injustice, the Ogoni people have sought political autonomy. (Welch: 1997) In 1992, the Nigerian government banned all public demonstrations declaring these as acts of treason hoping to silence the Ogoni people, however the Ogoni and MOSOP responded on January 4, 1993 with “Ogoni Day,” a tradition still carried out today. The public mobilization was a success in that it attracted 300,000 as well as slowly down oil extraction to a low of 10,000 a day (Glenn Ellis: 1998).

Bibliography Cayford, Steven 1996 The Ogoni Uprising” Oil, Human rights and a Democratic Alternative in Nigeria. Africa

Project Underground 1996 The Flames of Shell: A fact sheet. BerkeleyNigeria Environmental Action Study Team 1991 Nigeria’s Threatened Environment. Ibadan. Nnadozie, Emmanuel 1995 Oil and Socioeconomic Crisis in Nigeria. Lewiston: Mellon University Press. Saro-Wiwa, Ken 1989 Genocide in Nigeria, Port Harcourt. Saros International Publishers.Oyinlade, A. Olu and Jeffery M. Vincen 2002 The Ogoni of Nigeria,Endangered Peoples of Africa and the Middle East: Struggles to Survive and Thrive. Hitchcock, Robert K. and Alan J. Osborn, eds. Pp. 129-149.Greenwood Press.Dixon, Norm 1997 Stop environmental racism in Nigeria: Boycott Shell!. Electronic document, http://www.greenleft.org.au/1997/289/16048, accessed December 17, 2008Tuareg Culture and News. Welch, Claude 1997 The Ogoni and Self-Determination: Increasing Violence in Nigeria: The Journal of Modern African Studies. Cambridge University Press.

Conceptual Question

How can we increase the accountability of the Petroleum Industry and Transnational Corporations to ensure less environmental harm and degradation is such places as Nigeria

Transnational corporations (TNC’s) are increasing in number and political power as globalization is on the rise. Developing countries such as Nigeria attracts large corporations because it is here where there are lax environmental and human rights laws, allowing them to easily persuade the government and military with tempting bribes. Understandably, transnational corporations are on the search for cost-effective investments, but the thousands of lives that are ruined cannot be justified nor explained.

Development and enforcement of domestic environmental laws and use of international human rights laws and US laws can encourage the trend to accelerate towards an actual right to a healthy environment and universal corporate accountability. Host countries cannot pass stricter rules alone, but will need assistance from international nation states. Historically, international human rights law has been used to addressed environmental issues, and despite its earlier success, it is becoming more difficult for host countries to make the connection of environmental issues and human rights violations In their argument. Why cant nations with global influence like the US ratify relevant treaties and enforce the laws in their own jurisdictions and control in order to expand liability and compensation within international law for the victims of environmental damage. ? “If transnational corporations based in the US entered a developing state such as Nigeria knowing they had to abide by readily enforceable US environmental laws, they would conduct business in a less destructive manner.” (Declaration on International Investment and Multinational Enterprises: 1976)

“I accuse Shell and Chevron of practicing racism against the Ogoni people because they do in Ogoni what they do not do in other parts of the world where they prospect for oil. I accuse the oil companies of encouraging genocide against the Ogoni people. The profits from oil go to Britain because it is their technology that is keeping Nigerian oil going. So they have a moral responsibility to intervene. My mission has been to inform the West of what is happening in Nigeria, which has been hidden from them. I believe if people knew they’d do something about it and stop this robbery and murder that is going on in broad daylight” ~ Ken Saro-Wiwa

Ogoni Bills of Rights (1990)

We, the people of Ogoni (Babbe, Gokana, Ken Khana, Nyo Khana and Tai) numbering about 500,000 being a separate and distinct ethnic nationality within the Federal Republic of Nigeria, wish to draw the attention of the Governments and people of Nigeria to the under mentioned facts:

1. That the Ogoni people, before the advent of British colonialism, were not conquered or colonized by any other ethnic group in present-day Nigeria. 2.  That British colonization forced us into the administrative division of Opobo from 1908 to 1947. 3.  That we protested against this forced union until the Ogoni Native Authority was created in 1947 and placed under the then Rivers Province. 4.  That in 1951 we were forcibly included in the Eastern Region of Nigeria where we suffered utter neglect. 5.  That we protested against this neglect by voting against the party in power in the Region in 1957, and against the forced union by testimony before the Willink Commission of Inquiry into Minority Fears in 1958.6.  That this protest led to the inclusion of our nationality in Rivers State in 1967, which State consists of several ethnic nationalities with differing cultures, languages and aspirations. 7.  That oil was struck and produced in commercial quantities on our land in 1958 at K. Dere (Bomu oilfield). 8.  That oil has been mined on our land since 1958 to this day from the following oilfields: (i) Bomu (ii) Bodo West (iii) Tai (iv) Korokoro (v) Yorla (vi) Lubara Creek and (vii) Afam by Shell Petroleum Development Company (Nigeria) Limited.9.  That in over 30 years of oil mining, the Ogoni nationality have provided the Nigerian nation with a total revenue estimated at over 40 billion Naira (N40 billion) or 30 billion dollars. 10. That in return for the above contribution, the Ogoni people have received NOTHING. 11. That today, the Ogoni people have:(i)   No representation whatsoever in ALL institutions of the Federal Government of Nigeria.(ii)  No pipe-borne water.(iii) No electricity.(iv) No job opportunities for the citizens in Federal, State, public sector or private sector companies.(v) No social or economic project of the Federal Government. 12. That the Ogoni languages of Gokana and Khana are underdeveloped and are about to disappear, whereas other Nigerian languages are being forced on us. 13. That the Ethnic policies of successive Federal and State Governments are gradually pushing the Ogoni people to slavery and possible extinction. 14. That the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited does not employ Ogoni people at a meaningful or any level at all, in defiance of the Federal government s regulations. 15. That the search for oil has caused severe land and food shortages in Ogoni one of the most densely populated areas of Africa (average: 1,500 per square mile; national average: 300 per square mile). 16. That neglectful environmental pollution laws and substandard inspection techniques of the Federal authorities have led to the complete degradation of the Ogoni environment, turning our homeland into an ecological disaster. 17. That the Ogoni people lack education, health and other social facilities. 18. That it is intolerable that one of the richest areas of Nigeria should wallow in abject poverty and destitution. 19. That successive Federal administrations have trampled on every minority right enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution to the detriment of the Ogoni and have by administrative structuring and other noxious acts transferred Ogoni wealth exclusively to other parts of the Republic. 20. That the Ogoni people wish to manage their own affairs. (Welch: 1997)

“When we talk about oil installations in Nigeria, we are not talking about some remote facilities in the bush or in the sea. We are talking about oil wells, gas flares and pipelines right next door.”~ Ledum Mitee

Declaration on International Investment and Multinational Enterprises 1976 Annex on Guidelines of Multinational Enterprises: ILM

www.wikipedia.com

http://motherjones.com/politics/1997/05/boycott-shell-now