Ogoni youths give FG ultimatum to start clean-up

Ogoni youths, under the aegis of the National Youth Council of Ogoni People, have given the Federal Government a 21-day ultimatum to mobilise workers to site and commence the clean-up of their polluted land.

President of NYCOP, Dr. Young Npkah, warned that the Federal Government should be ready to engage the people in a fresh legal and internationally-recognised opposition. Npkah, who spoke in the Khana Local Government Area, also expressed worry on insecurity, pipeline laying/oil resumption and the delay in the clean-up of Ogoniland, adding that some unknown persons laid pipes in the Tai and Gokana LGAs without negotiating with the people of Ogoni. He warned those involved in such acts to stop immediately, maintaining that pipes couldn’t be laid in Ogoniland without the clean-up of the area. He said, “It is quite regrettable, if not shocking to note that some strange elements whose interest is to milk or fleece us of our God-endowed resources have laid pipes in Tai and Gokana Local Government Areas without bothering to have the decency to negotiate with the people. “We therefore use this medium to warn in strong terms that such an unwholesome, selfish and thieving operation should stop forthwith. Pipes cannot be laid nor can oil exploration resume in Ogoniland without an all-encompassing negotiation with the people. “We are two years away from that sugar-coated innuendo of promise regarding the clean-up of Ogoniland. And sorrowfully today, nothing has taken place. Not even a grain of sand, a tea-spoonful of our polluted waters or a leaflet has been cleaned.’’