Tinubu wants to drill Ogoni oil but cleanup drags

President Bola Tinubu is planning to re-enter Ogoni in Rivers State to drill oil but he will need to engineer a total clean-up of dirty and orphaned wells scattered across the oil-rich nation.

Ogoni is made up of Eleme, Gokana, Khana, and Tai local governments in Rivers State. The majority of the people are isolated from anything related to the federal government. They are angry because their environment was polluted by oil giants who are now exiting onshore exploration. The communities were polluted by more than two million barrels of oil in 2,976 separate oil spills, according to the Friends of the Earth.

They had been promised a five-year clean-up exercise that would last between 2016 and 2021, but that turned out to be a tall dream. In January 2025, the remediation exercise is far from over.

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In 2016, Shell, Total, Agip, and the former Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) pledged $900 million out of the $1 billion recommended by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) for the cleanup exercise.

According to a document obtained from Shell, the four companies founded a joint venture named the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) for the purpose of the cleanup exercise. They agreed to float the Ogoni Trust Fund (OTF), then managed by Wale Edun, now Nigeria’s finance minister. They also had to form a company known as the Hydrocarbon Pollution and Remediation Project (Hyprep), which will handle the logistics and contracts for the remediation exercise.

The SPDC paid $180 million into the OTF in July 2018 and another $180 million in 2019. It further remitted $212 million into the OTF in 2022, putting its total contribution at $572 million, amounting to 64 percent of the $900 million pledged.

The clean-up exercise is in phases, one of which is the remediation of the environment to return it to its pre-pollution stage. Two, all communities in the four local governments in Ogoni would be provided with water. However, some natives of Ogoni told BusinessDay that water is yet to go round all the communities.

Since the hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa and other eight environmental activists in 1995 by maximum ruler Sani Abacha, oil exploration has not been allowed in Ogoni.

However, President Tinubu invited Ogoni leaders last week to pacify them, with a view to re-entering the area to explore oil and meet Nigeria’s over 2 million oil production target in 2025.

The Nigerian government needs to raise its revenue to meet obligations, but it will need to increase its oil output to at least 2 million barrels per day consistently.

“We must work together with mutual trust. Go back home, do more consultations, and embrace others. We must make this trip worthwhile by bringing peace, development, and a clean environment back to Ogoniland,” Tinubu told the leaders.

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Tinubu’s moves faulted

However, Fyneface Dumnamene, executive director, Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC) Nigeria, told BusinessDay that President Tinubu’s efforts will succeed if he addresses all the reasons that stopped oil in Ogoni in 1993, looks into the current grievances of the people, clears late Ken Saro Wiwa of murder charge of 1995 and the other eight Ogoni people, and heals all the wounds of the community.

“The president’s move is a positive development but in the wrong direction. As far as I am concerned, it is more of a confrontation with the people of Ogoni. The president is prioritising oil exploration in Ogoni over issues that led to the crisis in Ogoni,” he said.

But Blessing Wikina, Ogoni information specialist and technocrat, told BusinessDay that the president’s invitation was good and timely, saying it is time for Ogoni to “change style.”

Poisonous water

An earlier investigation conducted by the reporter and funded by Dataphyte showed that water from Ogoni rivers are heavily contaminated.

The reporter collaborated with a senior lecturer at the Department of Microbiology and Brewing, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, South-East Nigeria, Dr Onyekachi Udemezue, to conduct a laboratory test in 2023.

The test was carried out at the government-accredited Springboard Research Laboratories, Awka, Anambra State. A physio-chemical analysis was carried out to confirm the water compositions or identify defects.

It was found that the water failed chloride, nitrite, hardness, lead, mercury, arsenic, and aluminum tests. Overall, the water failed all the basic tests.

Dr Udemezue explained that the water was turbid (cloudy or muddy) and could be harmful to fish and aquatic life. He said the water was tending towards acidity, which could aggravate ulcers and affect the body functions.

“The level of nitrite in the water makes it carcinogenic (cancer-causing), and it is as good as what people call ‘poison’. Even those swimming in it are not safe. The level of chloride in the water could damage the liver and the kidney. You,” he explained.

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“There is lead in the water, which could lead to cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, liver, and kidney diseases. People using the water would be having eye and mental issues. There is also mercury in the water, which could result in liver and kidney problems. Mercury in the water could affect neurological coordination because it is heavy metal,” he added.