11 years after: How clean is Ogoni?

The discovery of oil in Ogoniland many say ought to have brought good fortunes to the area and its people, instead, the story of the community and its inhabitants is that of untold hardship, deprivation and environmental pollution. Weekend Trust gathered that while oil exploration and production in the Niger Delta began in the late […]

The discovery of oil in Ogoniland many say ought to have brought good fortunes to the area and its people, instead, the story of the community and its inhabitants is that of untold hardship, deprivation and environmental pollution.

Weekend Trust gathered that while oil exploration and production in the Niger Delta began in the late 1950s, operations were suspended in Ogoniland in the early 1990s due to disruptions from local public unrest. 

The oilfields and installations largely remained dormant. However, major oil pipelines, such as the Trans Niger Delta Pipeline, crossed through Ogoniland. In 2016, late President Muhammadu Buhari launched the clean-up of Ogoniland, with the HYPREP as supervising body. The launch of the project was welcomed with fanfare and hope, however 11 years later, the story remains the same for the people of ogoniland as they continue to suffer environmental pollution and lack of infrastructure.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, at a meeting with Ogoni stakeholders in January 2025, directed the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, to oversee fresh consultations and negotiations on the clean-up and development of Ogoniland.

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The President also directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and the Rivers State Government to liaise with the NSA to achieve the mandate aimed at delivering peace, justice and sustainable development to Ogoniland.

Weekend Trust journeyed deep into Ogoni communities to ascertain the impact of the cleanup on the lives and livelihoods of the affected communities.

 

‘Our unending ordeal’

Some indigenes of Ogoniland, who spoke with Weekend Trust, lamented that despite years of oil exploration in the area, the people have not benefited much.

A female farmer and firewood seller, Mercy Medo, noted that she used to cut firewood to sell from the mangroves, but since the mangroves disappeared there is no more firewood to cut which has affected her business.

She, however said for lack of business, she ventured into full-time farming, but the challenges of the polluted environment continue in all aspects as the crops do not yield as they ought to because of pollution.

 “My cassava farm,  doesn’t   yield good harvest anymore; anything that I plant on the farm doesn’t grow again, because of the oil that is flowing into our river and when the tide is high, the water floods  our farms  spreading oil onto it , which in turn destroys the crops.

 “The only thing that helps me and my family to survive is the petty business I do. I haven’t gotten any compensation from the government or oil companies, they should know that they have exposed the people of Ogoni to severe danger and hunger, which affects our lifespan and livelihoods,” she said.

Mercy believes the clean-up hasn’t improved lives in any way. “This clean-up isn’t yielding any positive  result because as they clean-up, the environment is more polluted and the river is destroyed. There is no good water to drink here in K-Dere community. Even when I give birth, from day one, I give my children  borehole water, which by the way is also polluted, but I  boil the water before giving it to my children to drink.

“When I was younger, there was a river the whole community used to fetch drinking water from but today that river’s water is no more due to the pollution. Also, for more than 10 years, I haven’t gone to the hospital because the only hospital that was built by the community, the government took it over, and sadly, there are no doctors or nurses there. The place is locked up.” Mercy said.

Lamenting the detoriating situation of Ogoniland, the youth president of K-Dere community, Comrade Loole Popnen Gbaa, said that despite decades of oil exploration in the community, its people still drink from wells dug more than three decades ago.

He noted that the lifespan of the people of Ogoni has been reduced to 50-60 years because of diseases associated with pollution and environmental degradation

“Right here, (pointing to a well), as a child, we drank from it, but because of the pollution we can no longer drink from it. Alternative drinking water was part of what the UNEP report mentioned; it should be provided for the Ogoni people first. And if you check the level of damage that oil has done beneath the ground, we can’t get portable water now. But we see some measures being put in place through HYPREP, at least for now, there are one or two being commissioned, between Bari and Bodo, and one other community. So, our own in K-Dere is still ongoing. 

“Our area was a green area, but now all you see is the yellowish vegetation everywhere, because of the negative effect of the oil exploration that has taken place for decades. Currently, we don’t have a good farming or fishing system, as we can’t go to the river and get any fish again, because the entire ecosystem has been polluted. You can’t see periwinkle or those crabs that we normally see as soon as we approach the waterfront, they have all vanished. We are just living by the grace of God.

“We don’t even know when the diseases and sicknesses we experience ‘ll stop. People who are supposed to be elders by ages70-80 years, die at age 50-60 years; that tells how our lifespan has been affected. Generally, we don’t have a healthy environment because of the oil spill; our air, land and water are polluted.

Speaking further, he said “If you go to the hospital in Port Harcourt, because we don’t have hospitals in this area, most of the people at the cancer department are from Ogoni land, because of what we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe. Records of untimely deaths keep increasing daily,”  he said.

A middle aged female farmer in Gio community, Legborsi Giobari, said she lost her four-year-old child to complications from drinking from polluted water sources 15 years ago. She lamented  that the devastation of oil exploration activities in Ogoni has made people, especially the youths of Ogoni  hopeless about what future brings or holds for them.

“I wonder what the next generation of Ogoni children will face if something isn’t done urgently. During our growing up days, we didn’t encounter much of these pollution issues, but today, look at where we are, hopeless and lost even with all our resources.

She narrates that the farming she currently engages in doesn’t yield as much anymore. “The gas flaring, oil pollution and destruction of our ecosystem have made crops not grow properly, we can’t even do commercial farming in Ogoni again. Many businesses that used to flourish here have all vanished because the area isn’t conducive anymore for business or human stability. 

She noted that before now, travelers stopped by to buy Ogoni garri, but all that doesn’t happen anymore with environmental pollution being experienced in the community.

“We don’t have enough fish anymore for feeding, not to talk of selling. The Ogoni situation is pathetic. With all these problems, there’re still talks of oil exploration resumption in the land. They have, however, failed to ask themselves if HYPREP is actually doing a good job in the ‘cleanup’ or they are just serving the interest of few?” She asked.

Another farmer in Gio community, Mr Batambari Kingsley, said he only goes to the community to farm and get the little he can to feed his family, but plans to  relocate his family back  to the community,  once the diseases   that have ravaged the community for years are handled.

“Our fathers, mothers, siblings  and children died in this community many years ago, the few of us ran away for safety, so that our entire lineage isn’t wiped away.”

He noted that for eighteen years they had lived in another community, and would be glad to return to their ancestral land instead of living as displaced persons elsewhere.

Another trader at K-Dere community market, Madam Evelyn Legborsi, lamented that years after the killing of Ken Saro Wiwa, and nine  other Ogoni members, what  they fought and died for had gotten worse.

“I don’t know when the Ogoni situation will be solved, I was a young girl when Ken Saro Wiwa and others who fought for better lives for Ogoni were killed and until now that I have become a woman, nothing has been done to assuage the plights of the people.” She said,

She also noted that compensation has been given to the people of Ogoni, saying that the ongoing cleanup is highly political.  

“If government says they want to clean up Ogoni, what happened to the people that lost their livelihoods, aren’t they supposed to be compensated to start their lives again? What happened to women who were making a living from periwinkle scavenging, what happened to the women who were cutting firewood in the mangrove to sell, what happened to the women who were farming to make a living, will ‘political clean up’ restore the economic status of these people?” she asked

She went further to say that when children get sick because of drinking polluted water or inhaling the hydrocarbon, there is no available medical facility in the community or money to pay their way to Port Harcourt to get treatment. 

“Ogoni needs attention, Ogoni must be compensated. They should forget the resumption of oil exploration for now, and restore the livelihoods of the people, only then can they negotiate the resumption of oil exploration.” She said.

Madam Ewonu Zinari, a resident of Bodo community, said her mother died of cancer related complications. She says the situation in the community has remained the same since the execution of Ken Saro Wiwa and others who fought for a better environment for Ogoni.

Zinari, a farmer and firewood seller from Bodo community, notes that they still grapple with harsh environmental hazards despite the  cleanup efforts by the government .

“I was 15 when my mother died, due to consumption of polluted water which resulted in her health challenge and eventual death. I was told she suffered from cancer. The ailments from the pollution are real, how does one stay in the midst of all these spills and pollution and not get affected by ailments? I have three children, they drink from the polluted river sources, breath in polluted air, and may probably be infected with ailments which I currently show signs of when they grow up.” She said

Another fisherman, Elvis Karai, lost his wife five years ago to an ailment suspected to be cancer. He notes that people still die in Ogoni due to pollution, even though the government’s cleanup exercise is still ongoing. Questioning the cleanup exercise, he said  rivers remain polluted leaving lives and livelihoods of people  under threat, with the environmental pollution still at its peak.  

“The cleanup project is all politics. I grew up here and the situation is still the same many years after. I lost my wife five years ago to an ailment suspected to be cancer, and it happened because we couldn’t  afford clean water or  money to go to a big hospital outside this community.

He notes that he still goes fishing from time to time, but hardly catches anything.

“How will you catch fish when oil is flowing in the rivers? The fishes all moved somewhere safer. Even the air we breathe, water we drink is dangerous, how many people can afford bottled water or sachet water in this village, we all drink from a well or stream. Even when a borehole is drilled, the water you get is still polluted. Is it not the same ground that is polluted that the water will come out from? The politics of cleanup is just the federal government’s way of resuming oil exploration in Ogoni land and not for the interest of the people for over ten years that the cleanup has happened, nothing has changed. He said.

A fisherman in Gio community, Papa Nkukana, lamented that the situation has forced him to switch jobs from being a fisherman to a net fixer.

Nkukana, seen at Gio Riverside working on a customer’s net, said he used to have good catch when actively engaged in fishing but since the water pollution made fish go scarce, he has been reduced to only doing domestic work.

“I used to be a great fisherman, but since the oil spill, I now mend fishing nets in order to get money and feed myself and my family.”

Chief Dumka J. Kerabana, head of Ogbeifie dynasty in K-Dere Community of Gokana LGA, notes that there’s no difference from today’s polluted environment and the past, even with the ongoing cleanup happening in Ogoni villages.

“The clean-up project in K-Dere community started in 2025, while some started in 2024, however,what they are doing isn’t perfect, because the work is supposed to be done in three years; like one of the lots called Bush Door Integrated, they started in February of 2024, and they packed out in August of same year, saying they have finished work. Work meant to be done in three years was finished in less than seven months.

“So far, with the work they have done, there’s no difference before the clean-up and after. If you check where they claim they have cleaned up, you’ll still see lots of oil because nobody is supervising them. Probably, a scout team from HYPREP was called for formality sake because they’ll be paid for coming to do the inspection. So even if they are doing proper work or not, as long as they have been paid, they don’t have a say asking them to do a perfect job.

“We experience various forms of sicknesses and diseases in the community as a result of the pollution. Our people are blind. I don’t know the names of sicknesses because they’re many. The water in wells are polluted in various communities, and when you fetch water you see lots of oil in it, that’s what we have been drinking, cooking, bathing, and washing our clotheswith,” he said.

Speaking further on affected livelihoods, he said, “presently, you can’t find any fish in our rivers, like the shellfish, periwinkle, crab, lobster, etc., they are hardly seen in our rivers, unlike in the past where they were readily available in large quantities. All those aquatic foods, oil has killed all of them. You can also see how the mangroves have died off in the whole of this area. It now looks like sand fill; this entire place was all mangrove before. We used to catch crabs here; there were some species of crabs we get in the mangrove but, those species have gone extinct because of oil pollution.

He noted that the lives of the people have in no way improved.

“The only thing our people have achieved from this work is to buy bicycles; there is no improvement in livelihoods of community members, because what they pay is just a stipend. Remember, fishing and farming, which used to be our main occupation, have been destroyed by the pollution, the people doing the clean-up can decide to work for one week and then shut down for a whole month.” He said.

“The boreholes we have here are private -owned. People go there to buy water to drink, but even at that we are not safe because we also have underground pollution here in K-Dere community. Different teams have come to test the water and confirmed that we have underground water pollution, but we have no option because we cannot afford bottled water. he said.

 

Community deserted for 18 years

Gio, a community in Gokana LGA, though without an oil well has been deserted since 2008 over the outbreak of an epidemic as a result of oil pollution.

Though Weekend Trust learnt that there’s a gradual return of community members as the ongoing cleanup continues. Goi community suffers from the oil spills from nearby communities that dump the pollutants in the community coastlines.

Weekend Trust gathered that people began to desert Goi around 2008 due to severe oil pollution from spills that made the area inhabitable, with the government ordering a permanent evacuation by 2010. Locals in the community told Weekend Trust that the pollution had destroyed the community’s ability to fish, farm, or have access to clean water, forcing people to move away even before the official order from the government.

In January 2021, Goi community, alongside two others, including Oruma and Ikot Ada Udo, sued Shell to a Dutch Court in The Hague and won the case. In December 2022, the parties reached a settlement agreement, wherein Shell agreed to pay €15 million in compensation for the damage caused by oil spills.

Michael Beenen Naah, youth leader pf Goi residents in K-Dere community, said the shoreline in the community has been cleaned up, but a lot still needs to be done to recover the natural environment of the community. He lamented that there has never been a good source of drinking water in the community, despite all they have experienced from oil pollution and the activities of oil companies.

“People deserted this community because of experiences of constant sickness due to the environmental pollution.

“The recent one that caused HYPREP and the entire world to be aware was not the first pollution we have experienced. We had pollution incidents before and during the civil war, and all these things worsened our environment. The worst of them was what happened on the TNP (Trans Niger Delta Pipeline) that flows down to the creek up to Goi. Also, like a reservoir, the whole line from Bodo West blew their pollution down to Goi creeks; and that is how Goi became highly polluted.

“That was when an agency from the UNEP came here and placed a signage that people should leave the community because it was no longer habitable. I think that was in the late 90s, when the Ogoni issue was top in the news. There were a lot of things then, because then we had a bakery, school and different activities happened here, but now all those activities have stopped. We left the community and are now scattered all around neighbouring communities in Gokana LGA. We expected life to return fully here; schools, health centres and life for the people to return, but from what we see, life is far from returning to normal for our people,” he said.

 

Traditional ruler weighs in

Gio traditional ruler, Chief Amb. Fidelis A. Ukenedo, lamented the loss of livelihoods by the people of the community as a result of oil pollution.

“I commend the effort of the late former President, Muhammadu Buhari, in directing the cleanup of Ogoniland. We are waiting fthe cleanup because our entire mangrove is polluted and devastated.Our river has both salt water and fresh water, if you enter the community, especially during raining season,  all you see is oil and most of our people drink from that source; meaning we’re drinking oil.

The traditional ruler also noted that there are no good hospitals and schools in the community.

“During emergencies, we go to the health centre at Kpite, another community. The health centre here is a branch of another health centre, but there is no doctor to take care of emergencies, so during labour our women are taken to the general hospital in Bori or the health centre in Kpite.

Speaking on the issue of compensation, he said, “Despite the pollution of our land, there’s been no compensation, which is why we demand that in line with the renewed hope agenda of President Bola Tinubu, he dialogues with the Ogoni people concerning the oil exploration resumption.We see it as a welcome development, because if such happens, I think local communities and people will also benefit. “He said.

 

‘Meet our demands first….’

With plans by the federal government to resume oil production in Ogoniland, indigenes of the community urge that compensation be paid and other conditions met before oil exploration resumes.

Comrade Loole Popnen Gbaa youth leader welcomed the idea of oil exploration resumption but, however called on the government to carry out proper cleaning of the environment first.

“What we need is a genuine and honest government that has the interest of it’s people at heart. The federal government has been worried for many years because they haven’t taken oil from here. What we need now is proper discussion. What are our benefits? You can’t take ten naira from us and give us one naira. We need to be involved in what the federal government intends to do. We need clear compensation, good hospitals, schools, and good roads. We don’t have good road networks in our communities. You come to the community, you see pools of stagnant water everywhere; we are surrounded by dirty and polluted water.  These are places where the federal government thrives from. They take resources from here and build mansions in Abuja, Lagos and other cities, then we live by from hound-to-mouth in shanties. All these needs to be put in place. We want to be seen as the goose that lays the golden eggs.

“We lost our fathers, brothers, and mothers, for this course. We want a face-to-face discussion and agreement; they should take what they want while we in turn get what we deserve. In that case, there won’t be problems. We don’t want what happened years back to repeat itself; we want to be engaged in the process of every drop of oil that would be taken out” he said.

Also speaking the youth leader Goi community, Michael Beenen Naah, noted, “The environment should be cleaned for the people to go on with their lives. We expect the government and oil companies to abide by best international practices that can help the people reclaim their lives, lost livelihoods and their environment.

 

CSOs weigh in

Members of the Civil Society Organisation (CSO) have called on the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) to carry out proper and timely cleanup of Ogoni land to assuage the suffering of the people. Mr Kentebe Ebiaridor, of the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, said though the cleanup exercise is slow, they are happy the work is ongoing

“I have visited the centre of excellence water projects, and the work is ongoing. Though slow, it could be faster considering the funds and topography of the area and also for the fact that people’s lives are attached to the environment, so we expect it to be faster than it is,  but we are okay with what we have seen.” He said.

He said that he has visited most of the areas and that  most have been cleaned.

“Most of the polluted areas have been cleaned or remediated, places that ordinarily you couldn’t go into without covering your nose, you can now walk in there. The mangroves restoration is ongoing. So, when people say they’re not doing the right thing, it depends on their definition of what the right thing is. I’m not saying that some parts of Ogoni land isn’t still polluted, there are still polluted areas, but at the same time work is ongoing to ensure that most of these pollution is reduced to the barest minimum”, he said.

Also speaking on the issue, the Chairman, Civil Liberty Organisation of Nigeria, Bayelsa State Comrade David-West Benewarie David, said the Ogoni cleanup has taken too long to be completed, despite the amount of money spent.

He noted that it’s the right of the Ogoni people to have their land cleaned because the people have suffered decades of environmental degradation.

“HYPREP was mandated to carry out the cleanup, but the question remains, is the cleanup being properly done, what’s the timeline for the cleanup? The question on whether the cleanup is properly done is very pertinent, because not long ago, in two communities, the water HYPREP provided as part of the cleanup, the water tank crashed; so that’s to say the quality of work done is also of issue. The Ogoni cleanup has taken too long, by now, we should have been talking of the cleanup extending to other communities of the Niger Delta.”

 He stated that the people still suffer from oil pollution, noting that oil spillage incidents still happen in Ogoniland even though oil exploration isn’t ongoing.

“Even when oil exploration isn’t ongoing, we still experience oil spills. Ogoni deserves the cleanup, what HYPREP is doing, isn’t enough, and extensive; and time is of essence to us. The Ogoni people’s plights, agitations and propositions of the late Ken Saro Wiwa are still hanging, and yet to be fulfilled.

 

Cleanup 96 per cent complete – HYPREP

Enuolare Mba Nwigoh, head, communication, HYPREP, said the ongoing cleanup work in Ogoniland is 96 per cent complete, while others are between 60-80 per cent complete. He noted that asides the cleanup, HYPREP is carrying out mangroves restoration, water and hospital projects, empowerment as well as shoreline protection.

“There are several works being handled by us. We’re handling the centre of excellence and environmental restoration, the work there is over 96 per cent complete. We have the Ogoni specialist hospital, which is over 80 per cent complete, one of our mangroves projects in Bomu in Gokana local government is complete, we planted over 1.5 million mangrove seedlings across the area in our first phase of mangrove restoration. He noted that in terms of livelihoods, they had trained 5000 on skills acquisition and are about to train another 2000. He also stated that phase two of the shoreline project is about to take off, stating that phase one of the shoreline project is about 85 per cent complete.

“Our water project is currently providing water to about 43 communities, we have just awarded another round of water project, our land remediation is over 60 per cent complete and the Ogoni power project is also ongoing. We are constructing the towers, the sub-stations, phase one is over 60 per cent complete,” he said.