ogoni people
Photograph of Ogoni protest against oil drilling.
The Ogoni people are a native tribe of Nigeria that have populated certain plots of land for over 500 years. However, since 1958 the Ogoni have been facing their most dire challenge ever, the battle against oil. Ever since Royal Dutch Shell found oil in Ogoniland in 1958 drilling has continued at alarming rates and the Ogoni have become pure victims of multiple violations. Health has been compromised by air pollution caused by a process called flaring and drilling waste being spilled into the river from which the people fish, eliminating a source of food income. The environment has been damaged by frequent oil spills (of which 1,581 occurred from 1970-1981 alone). And, whenever the people have protested oil drilling they have become oppressed by a government under pay of the oil companies. The Ogoni received main representation by Ken Saro-Wiwa and his MOSOP group organised protests and other acts to make the issues of the Ogoni publicly known to the world. When Saro-Wiwa and eight others were unjustly accused of murder of four people the government had raze 30 Ogoni villages, detained 600 people, and killed 2,000
Problems the Ogoni face-
quotes
“...we are crying out for sympathy because we have these recent years been victims of a callous neglect by successive governments whose only interests are the royalties which accrue to them every year from the oil companies. The millions of pounds which the Shell-BP constantly pays to our government is blood-money, extracted from the very veins of our dying people.” - 1970 Ogoni Leader petition
"Oil is a curse which means only poverty, hunger, disease and exploitation"
- Emanuel Nnadozie
"Oil is a curse which means only poverty, hunger, disease and exploitation"
- Emanuel Nnadozie