- Title: NIGERIA: Activists mark the death of Ken Saro-Wiwa, renew calls for reparations.
- Date: 13th November 2012
- Summary: PORT HARCOURT, NIGERIA (RECENT) (REUTERS -ACCESS ALL) VARIOUS OF MOVEMENT FOR THE SURVIVAL OF THE OGONI PEOPLE (MOSOP) LEADERS AND SUPPORTERS SINGING
- Embargoed: 28th November 2012 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Nigeria
- Country: Nigeria
- Topics: Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA5DINDRA2BG2A5DL7AQSX8GAFR
- Story Text: Environmental and human rights activists mark the anniversary of Ken Saro-Wiwa's death, an activist who fought for the rights of the impoverished Ogoni people of the polluted Niger Delta, a region where much Nigeria's oil reserves lie.
17 years ago, on the 10th of November 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Nigerian environmental justice activists, were executed by the regime of military dictator Sani Abacha.
The activists, led by Wiwa, had campaigned against environmental degradation in the Niger Delta caused by large oil companies and in particular, Royal Dutch Shell.
To mark the anniversary of their deaths, a memorial lecture was held in the southern city of Port Harcourt during which fresh calls were made for reparations.
"Till date, not much has been done, Ogoni people cannot point out to say, what the martyrs, the killing of our people, the death of our people, those who gave up their lives for the struggle and say this is what we have achieved, it is so unfortunate and so sad to be a minority among majority in a very complex country in Nigeria," said Prof. Ben Naanen, the chairman of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) that Saro-Wiwa founded.
Prosperity has flowed from Ogoniland, one of Africa's earliest crude oil producing areas, for decades. But it has flowed to the big oil companies and to Nigerian state coffers. Locals have long complained that precious little goes their way.
A landmark U.N. report on August 4 last year slammed multinational oil companies, particularly leading operator Royal Dutch Shell, and the government, for 50 years of oil pollution that has devastated this region of the Niger Delta, a fragile wetlands environment.
It said the area needed the world's biggest ever oil clean-up, taking at least 25 years and costing an initial one billion US dollars. Shell and the government swiftly pledged to act on it.
Residents say they've seen no evidence that it has begun.
"17 years after the ultimate sacrifices of the Ogoni people, and over 20 years after Ken Saro-Wiwa and other Ogoni people started their non-violent agitation against oppressive and murderous military regimes, after Shell was declared not wanted in Ogoni land, oil companies continued to destroy, devastate and neglect our people and our region, everything the oil companies did to our people and region under the military regime, the same oil companies continue to do today, actually nothing has changed," said Akinno Briggs, a Niger Delta activist.
Saro-Wiwa was an author, television producer, environmental activist and winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize.
The Ogoni Bill of Rights, written by MOSOP, set out the movement's demands, including increased autonomy for the Ogoni people, a fair share of the proceeds of oil extraction, and remediation of environmental damage to Ogoni land.
"We've asked that we want Ogoni created into an entity of its own, call it a state or an autonomous state like every other state in Nigeria, where we can control our own resources, direct our future, within the Nigerian state and have a fair share of what we produce, then, we will have peace, real peace," said Harry Sawo-Wiwa, the younger brother of the slain activist.
Proposals for an annual Ken Saro-Wiwa Day, the naming of a street after the fallen Niger Delta hero and the erection of a national monument were rejected by the Nigerian Senate. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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