The discovery of oil in Ogoniland many say ought to have brought good fortunes to the area and its people, instead, the story of the community and its inhabitants is that of untold hardship, deprivation and environmental pollution. Weekend Trust gathered that while oil exploration and production in the Niger Delta began in the late 1950s, operations were suspended in Ogoniland in the early 1990s due to disruptions from local public unrest. The oilfields and installations largely remained dormant.
However, major oil pipelines, such as the Trans Niger Delta Pipeline, crossed through Ogoniland. In 2016, late President Muhammadu Buhari launched the clean-up of Ogoniland, with the HYPREP as supervising body. The launch of the project was welcomed with fanfare and hope, however 11 years later, the story remains the same for the people of ogoniland as they continue to suffer environmental pollution and lack of infrastructure.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, at a meeting with Ogoni stakeholders in January 2025, directed the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, to oversee fresh consultations and negotiations on the clean-up and development of Ogoniland. The President also directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and the Rivers State Government to liaise with the NSA to achieve the mandate aimed at delivering peace, justice and sustainable development to Ogoniland. Weekend Trust journeyed deep into Ogoni communities to ascertain the impact of the cleanup on the lives and livelihoods of the affected communities. ’Our unending ordeal’ Some indigenes of Ogoniland, who spoke with Weekend Trust, lamented that despite years of oil exploration in the area, the people have not benefited much.
A female farmer and firewood seller, Mercy Medo, noted that she used to cut firewood to sell from the mangroves, but since the mangroves disappeared there is no more firewood to cut which has affected her business. She, however said for lack of business, she ventured into full-time farming, but the challenges of the polluted environment continue in all aspects as the crops do not yield as they ought to because of pollution. “My cassava farm, doesn’t yield good harvest anymore; anything that I plant on the farm doesn’t grow again, because of the oil that is flowing into our river and when the tide is high, the water floods our farms spreading oil onto it , which in turn destroys the crops.
“The only thing that helps me and my family to survive is the petty business I do. I haven’t gotten any compensation from the government or oil companies, they should know that they have exposed the people of Ogoni to severe danger and hunger, which affects our lifespan and livelihoods,” she said. Mercy believes the clean-up hasn’t improved lives in any way.
“This clean-up isn’t yielding any positive result because as they clean-up, the environment is more polluted and the river is destroyed. There is no good water to drink here in K-Dere community. Even when I give birth, from day one, I give my children borehole water, which by the way is also polluted, but I boil the water before giving it to my children to drink.
“When I was younger, there was a river the whole community used to fetch drinking water from but today that river’s water is no more due to the pollution. Also, for more than 10 years, I haven’t gone to the hospital because the only hospital that was built by the community, the government took it over, and sadly, there are no doctors or nurses there. The place is locked up.” Mercy said.
Lamenting the detoriating situation of Ogoniland, the youth president of K-Dere community, Comrade Loole Popnen Gbaa, said that despite decades of oil exploration in the community, its people still drink from wells dug more than three decades ago. He noted that the lifespan of the people of Ogoni has been reduced to 50-60 years because of diseases associated with pollution and environmental degradation “Right here, (pointing to a well), as a child, we drank from it, but because of the pollution we can no longer drink from it. Alternative drinking water was part of what the UNEP report mentioned; it should be provided for the Ogoni people first.
And if you check the level of damage that oil has done beneath the ground, we can’t get portable water now. But we see some measures being put in place through HYPREP, at least for now, there are one or two being commissioned, between Bari and Bodo, and one other community. So, our own in K-Dere is still ongoing.
“Our area was a green area, but now all you see is the yellowish vegetation everywhere, because of the negative effect of the oil exploration that has taken place for decades. Currently, we don’t have a good farming or fishing system, as we can’t go to the river and get any fish again, because the entire ecosystem has been polluted. You can’t see periwinkle or those crabs that we normally see as soon as we approach the waterfront, they have all vanished. We are just living by