By Mark Lenu
The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People has revealed how the Nigerian government lost 279 billion dollars in Ogoniland, blaming it on the poor handling of the Ogoni situation by the federal government.
The President of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke who unveiled this also said the losses occurred within the last 31 years that oil has not been explored from Ogoni soil.
He said; “Oil was discovered in Ogoni prior to Nigeria’s independence and commercial production by the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, SPDC, commenced in 1958.
“By 1990, crude oil which was said to have worth an estimated $30 Billion was extracted from Ogoni. Though this figure was derived from Shell’s data, but recent official and expert opinion suggests that the figure could be twenty times more than the estimates of Shell.
“Trouble started when the Ogoni people realised that there was nothing to show for the huge revenues generated by the federal government through Shell from Ogoniland in over 30 years. It became clear to the Ogoni people that they were going extinct in the midst of huge natural endowments.
“In response to these challenges and the determination to address these problems, the Ogoni people launched the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP} and mandated MOSOP to pursue the cause of justice for the people.
“The eventual exit of Shell from Ogoniland brought some succour to the people as the pollution and exploitation were halted, at least, for the moment.
“The consequences of Shell’s exit from Ogoni had been a big loss of an estimated $279 Billion in the past 31 years. This represents lost revenue from an estimated 500,000 barrels of oil per day which would have been produced from the Ogoni region.
“Resolving the Ogoni problem demands that the Nigerian government and the oil industry must be fair in the way the Ogoni people are treated. This fairness is defined as “setting aside a fair proportion of the profits made from the oil extracted in Ogoniland for Ogoni development.”
