Ogoni people
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Ogoni people are one of the many indigenous peoples in the Niger Delta region of southeast Nigeria. They number about a half million people and live in a 404-square mile homeland which they also refer to as Ogoni, or Ogoniland.
The Ogoni rose to international notoriety after a massive public protest campaign against Shell Oil, led by the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP).
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[edit] Geography
The territory is located in Rivers State on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea, east of the city of Port Harcourt. It extends across the Local Government Areas (LGAs) Kana, Gokana, Tai, and Eleme. Traditionally, Ogoniland is divided into the six kingdoms of Babbe, Eleme, Gokana, Ken-Khana, Nyo-Khana, and Tai. Unlike many other Nigerian minorities, the Ogoni have no myth of their common origin around which to rally to be used as a cause for unification.
The Ogoni speak the related, but not mutually intelligible languages of Khana, Gokana, Tai and Eleme, part of the extremely large linguistic diversity of the Niger Delta.
[edit] History
Like many peoples on the Guinea coast, the Ogoni have an internal political structure led by chiefs. They survived the period of the slave trade in relative isolation, losing few if any of their members to enslavement. After Nigeria was colonized by the British in 1885, British soldiers arrived in Ogoni by 1901. Major resistance to their presence continued through 1914.
The Ogoni were integrated into a succession of economic systems at a pace that was extremely rapid and exacted a great toll from them. At the turn of the century, “the world to them did not extend beyond the next three or four villages,” but that soon changed. Ken Saro-Wiwa, the late president of MOSOP, described the transition this way: “if you then think that within the space of seventy years they were struck by the combined forces of modernity, colonialism, the money economy, indigenous colonialism and then the Nigerian Civil War, and that they had to adjust to these forces without adequate preparation or direction, you will appreciate the bafflement of the Ogoni people and the subsequent confusion engendered in the society.”
[edit] Oil Conflict
In 1958, oil was discovered in Ogoni. Environmental destruction and the lack of a meaningful local share in the wealth being extracted led to local opposition over the years. However, this did not substantially affect the oil companies until the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People began a community campaign in 1990. Three years of increasing mobilisation (see the MOSOP article for details) were capped by a massive turnout for the annual Ogoni Day (January 4) in 1993, in towns across their territory. As many as 300,000 participated in demonstrations demanding the departure of Royal Dutch Shell from their land. Further actions were met with the militarization of their territory and the withdrawal of Shell, which was then described as a temporary security measure. During the militarization, MOSOP's leadership (including Saro-Wiwa) was jailed by the Nigerian military government of General Sani Abacha and later tried, convicted, and executed; attacks were also carried out on numerous Ogoni villages, killing over 2,000 people and sending thousands more into exile in Benin. The precipitous actions of the government resulted in its suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations, but little other direct or effective sanction was taken by the international community.
Shell has since said that it will not return without the consent of the Ogoni people, although at various times it has made preparations or attempts to return. Some refugees were resettled in the United States of America and Canada. In April 2005, an Ogoni community known as the Agip waterfront was demolished in order to facilitate expansion of the facilities of the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) [3]. At least one Ogoni was killed and others were wounded in the process.
[edit] The National Union of Ogoni Students ("NUOS International") USA
The National Union of Ogoni Students (NUOS International) USA is an independent, non-profit organisation that functions as the students unit of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP). NUOS strives to enhance and enrich the quality of life through Educational, Charitable, Socio-cultural, Scientific and Environmental purposes for all indigenous students. NUOS provides Research, Advocacy, and Enlightens minority / indigenous students and the public on the plight and educational barriers that face indigenous and minority students. NUOS USA sent a petition to U.S. President George W Bush in July 2006 seeking his intervention in relation to the actions of the Nigerian government and the activities of Shell in Nigeria. Part of this information comes from the NUOS International (USA) website.
[edit] References
- ↑ Quotes from Ken Saro-Wiwa, "Letter to Ogoni Youth."
- ↑ PBS Documentary The New Americans: The Ogoni Refugees
