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8 July 1999 Edition

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The battle for Ogoni rights in Nigeria

An interview with Owns Wiwa

Owens Wiwa is a leading member of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP). ``We have been struggling for the past nine years basically to achieve the objective of political autonomy within Nigeria, respect for the environment from the transnational corporations, for our language to be taught in our schools and the right to control the use of our resources,'' he says. Owens Wiwa was forced into exile to Canada three years ago after the execution of his brother Ken Saro Wiwa, and eight other MOSOP human rights activists by the Nigerian dictatorship. Owens Wiwa now lives in Canada, where he works as a medical research scientist at the University of Toronto hospital and campaigns for the rights of the minority ethnic groups of the Niger Delta.

Owens Wiwa visited Ireland last week after returning for the first time to Nigeria, where he met the new elected president, former dictator General Olusegun Obasanjo, to discuss the situation in Ogoniland.

 


An Phoblacht: What were the main issues you tackled in your meeting with president Obasanjo?

Owens Wiwa: I went to talk about the return of the body of my brother and the others and about the issue of autonomy for the people of the Niger Delta to be looked into. The president agreed on the release of the bodies and this should take place when we are ready to exhume the bodies and do the pathological tests.

 


AP: Do you think that, following the elections in Nigeria, there has been a real change towards democracy in the country?

OW: No, there is a civilian government, but in the context of Nigeria, even when there is a democracy, there is not respect for the rights of minorities, for the rights to political autonomy. We, as Ogoni people in distinct indigenous communities in Nigeria, have the right to choose our own leaders ourselves. So there is still the question of indigenous colonisation of the Ogoni people by the majority ethnic tribes in Nigeria.

On the other hand, Nigeria still owes a lot of money to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and to the World Bank. And the US still wants its companies to take the oil, while the EU also wants its share. These are the obstacles for having the democratic values that we were talking about embedded in the Nigerian fabric.

 


AP: President Obasanjo is a former general, and a former president of Nigeria during the dictatorship. Do you feel the army is still behind the scenes?

OW: The new civilian president is a former military dictator, and he got great help from the army and the generals during the election. They have given him a lot of money to run the election, because they are trying to preserve their interests. Are they still there? Yes. Being in power has helped them to make an alliance with the multinational companies. It now depends on how we can weaken that alliance between the military and multinational corporations in order for democracy to fit into the fabric of society. Whether we succeed is something that I can't say right now.

 


AP: Has there been any change in Nigeria at all?

OW: Yes. There has been change in some senses. During the dictatorship, the human rights abuses and the persecution were intensified. That has gone down. There is some freedom of speech. But the structural defects of the country that led the government to persecute us are still there. The oil companies are still taking the resources from the people of the Niger Delta and destroying the environment. The discrimination against the Ogoni people as a minority in the context of Nigeria is still there.

 


AP: And what about the situation in Ogoniland. Have you noticed any changes since you left three years ago?

OW: I could see that people are still suffering from post-traumatic stress, suffering the consequences of the abuses by the army. I could see a lot of fright in the faces of people. The people are poorer than before because of the extortion that took place. As for the environment, Ogoni is greener than when I left it, and that is because we stopped Shell from continuing to drill in Ogoni. I can confirm that the presence of the oil companies was having a very damaging impact on the environment .

On the other hand, the sites where there have been spillages have not been cleaned up at all. The pipelines of death are still there and the company has not done anything to remove them. The hospitals have no drugs, the teachers have not gone to the schools for nine month now because they have not been paid.

So, even though the people are happy because there are no more human rights abuses, even though there is a lot of hope, I still can see some level of worry, especially when the children are not going to school, there are no drugs in the hospitals and given the level of poverty that is there.

 


AP: In relation to the oil spillages, spokespersons for the oil company have pointed out they were not their responsibility, but the responsibility of the Nigerian subcontractors.

OW: It is true that Shell is in partnership with a state-owned company, but in the agreement it is very clear that Shell is responsible for the day-to-day operation, the technical operation. The spillages are due to a fault in the technical operation, and therefore Shell is responsible for cleaning them up.

Shell, as a corporate body, should be able to feel as part of the community. But they still see themselves as parasites who just come, pick up the oil, destroy the environment and go away. They do not behave as part of the community and since they are inherently racist, since they are in our community and we have a different colour, they refuse to behave as part of the community. They have no right to take our resources, destroy our environment, destroy our livelihood and then get out and say `It is not our responsibility'. Their excuse is unacceptable. They took our dignity, they dehumanised us for 30 years... They have to pay.

 


AP: And what about if Shell wants to go back?

OW: Why are they going to come back? The Ogoni people, the Ogoni women, have said that Shell shall never come back to Ogoni. Why should be a company there? We do not use the oil, there are not many cars in Ogoni. Years of drilling has made us sick and poorer. So why should we allow any other company in? However, if the Ogoni people feel that it is time, that they want another company, there is no one stopping them. But there are other things that should be done in Ogoniland, other than drilling for oil.

 


AP: And what is the Nigerian government's position in relation to the end of the oil exports?

OW: It is our land! It is inherent to any true democracy that minority rights should be protected. And what we say is that oil drilling, the way it was being done, destroyed our health, our environment and therefore our quality of life and our life expectancy. No majority has a right to deprive me of my right to good health. The Ogoni people have asked Shell to get out of our land. If someone wants to drill they will have to do it through negotiations with the communities.

 


AP: How are the relations of the Ogoni with the other ethnic groups in Nigeria?

OW: Our relations are good. We formed the Pan-Niger Delta organisation that involves representatives from other ethnic groups. We are in a coalition to fight for our self-determination, to try to stop the environmental destruction of our home and our loss of power to the transnationals and the government, and to try to empower ourselves. With the majority groups, generally, we keep good relations. Although when it comes to the issue of oil, some of the majority groups think is their right to have the oil.

 


AP: You are talking about self-determination. Do you see Nigeria disintegrating as an state?

OW: We do not want that. What we want is a federation of ethnic groups. There should be some devolution of power from the centralised government.

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