A peaceful protest is a community saying it still believes in talking. The people of Mogho in Gokana have chosen that route. They say they have been left out of HYPREP’s shoreline restoration, and they insist the Kpador waterfront and surrounding farmlands belong to them.
HYPREP deserves credit for its record since the Ogoni cleanup began at Bodo in 2016. It reports over 1,000 hectares of shoreline cleaned and 560 hectares of mangroves restored. Phase II is now under way in Gokana, with over 1,500 direct jobs promised this year. But a cleanup is measured by more than hectares. It is also measured by whether the people who live on the land see themselves in the work.
That is the real issue in Mogho. A cleanup can restore a shoreline and still fail if it does not settle who has a place at the table. Ownership of the process matters as much as ownership of the land, and HYPREP should resolve Mogho’s standing in the project before it breaks more ground.
This warning is not new. In 2019, Ogoni elders argued that the best protection for any project is the involvement of those it affects. In Ogale, landowners complained of no engagement or compensation. HYPREP itself lists land ownership, boundary disputes and chieftaincy tussles among the causes of delay. Mogho’s claim over Kpador sits on that same fault line.
Ignoring it carries a high cost. Where jobs are scarce, exclusion from a project feels like exclusion from its benefits. In 2019, amid discontent over how the cleanup was handled, youths in K-Dere, also in Gokana, set a HYPREP bus ablaze. Mogho has chosen dialogue, and that choice should not be met with silence.
HYPREP should act in three steps:
State publicly Mogho’s status in the shoreline project and the basis for any decision on Kpador.
Convene an open meeting with Mogho leaders, landowners, the Gokana council and the state government.
Use its dispute-resolution process to settle ownership claims, and place Mogho youths and women on its work and training lists.
A cleanup that heals the water but wounds the trust of its hosts will need cleaning again. HYPREP should make room for Mogho now.
