Ogoni: Endangered Indigenous People

       Plants and animals are not the only species that are endangered. People are too. Just as much as development and habitat degradation can negatively affect plants and animals, they can impact whole tribes as well.

      An agricultural, hunting, and fishing tribe, the Ogoni people have lived on the 404-square mile territory in the Niger Delta that they call Ogoniland for almost 500 years. Not until the British invaded in 1901 were the Ogoni introduced to “modernity” and “civilization.” Since then, the peaceful people have been bombarded by the “forces of modernity, colonialism, the money economy, indigenous colonialism and then the Nigerian Civil War,” radically altering Ogoni consciousness and lifestyle (Kavilu 2011). However, the Ogoni’s worst grievances remain with environmental pollution from oil production, which has adversely impacted their socio-economics, health, and culture.

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    Deforestation, toxic waste dumping, soil degradation, and oil spills have rendered farmlands infertile and rivers undrinkable (Adeola 2009, p. 145, www.giapf.org). Hunting is futile since the wildlife has either died or fled because of habitat degradation. The oil companies have stripped the land of its wealth and destroyed the only forms of livelihood for the Ogoni. The Nigerian government refuses the Ogoni compensation, and instead, chooses to maintain friendly relations with the multinational corporations that embody the geopolitical and economic practices intrinsic of neocolonialism.

        In the ambitious, neocolonial pursuit of valuable resources and profit, the plight of health problems in the marginalized society of Ogoni people has been relatively ignored. Environmental impacts on land, air, water, flora, and fauna have caused the malnutrition and starvation of the Ogoni people (www.umn.edu). Short and long-term health impacts, such as “skin infections, gastrointestinal and respiratory ailments, increased risk of cancers, and neurological and reproductive problems” have been reported (www.umn.edu). Noisy gas flares, or the burning of 76% of the gas released during oil extraction, occur close to residences at all hours of the day, leaving a thick layer of soot over the area (Adeola 2009, p. 145, www.ratical.org). Gas flares emit nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide, which cause asthma, lung disease, and cancer (www.umich.edu). Oil production has deteriorated the health of an indigenous tribe that does not have the money or facilities to address such problems.

         But the Ogoni people still have a spirited voice, with which they are fighting back for their human rights. In the 1990s, the Ogoni organized the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, leading multiple protests, to which the Nigerian government responded with “wasting operations,” looting and burning the homes of MOSOP activists (Lobe 2002). The MOSOP president, Ken Saro-wiwa, became a world renowned human rights and environmental activist before his hasty execution in 1995 after a nonviolent political protest against Shell for 50 years of environmental degradation of Ogoniland (Kavilu 2011). Shortly after his death, a case was filed against the Nigerian government, and the African commission decided that the Nigerian government violated seven articles of the 1981 African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, demanding that the Nigerian government compensate the Ogoni people for abuses to their land, environment, and health (Lobe 2002).

         The Ogoni refuse to be marginalized any longer, making their voice against the exploitation of human rights and the environment heard around the globe.

Reference List

Adeola, F., 2009. ‘From Colonialism to Internal Colonialism and Crude Socioenvironmental Injustice’, in F. Steady, Environmental Justice in the New Millenium. New York, Palgrave Macmillan.

Brief Historical Background of Ogoni [online]. Available: http://giapf.org/ogoni_history.htm accessed 23 March 2013.

Factsheet of the Ogoni Struggle [online]. Available: http://www.ratical.org/corporations/OgoniFactS.html accessed 23 March 2013.

Kavilu, S., 2011. Nigeria’s Ogoni Indigenous People Calls for Fresh Investigation on Murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa [online]. Available: http://www.galdu.org/web/index.php?odas=5046 accessed 23 March 2013.            

Lobe, J., 2002. People versus Big Oil: Rights of Nigerian Indigenous People Recognized [online]. Available:  http://www.fpif.org/articles/people_versus_big_oil_rights_of_nigerian_indigenous_people_recognized accessed 23 March 2013.

The Curse of Oil in Ogoniland [online]. Available: http://www.umich.edu/~snre492/cases_03-04/Ogoni/Ogoni_case_study.htm accessed 23 March 2013.

The Social and Economic Rights Action Center and the Center for Economic and Social Rights v. Nigeria, African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, Comm. No. 155/96 [online]. Available: http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/africa/comcases/155-96.html accessed 23 March 2013.