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🇳🇬 Nigeria /Energy & Infrastructure

Ogoni youths threaten protests unless government creates Bori State before oil resumption

From The Punch · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • The Ogoni Youths Development Initiative says planned oil resumption in Ogoniland must not proceed unless the Federal Government creates Bori State.
  • The group also called for the dissolution of the Ogoni Dialogue Committee, saying it no longer trusts the committee’s composition.
  • The youths said they oppose secret drilling but are not fundamentally against oil exploration or economic development in the area.

Ogoni youths have threatened statewide protests in the coming weeks unless the Federal Government creates Bori State before oil operations resume in Ogoniland.

The leadership and entire membership of the Ogoni Youths Development Initiative (OYDI) hereby notifies the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Federal Government of our intentions to embark on a statewide protest in the coming weeks against oil resumption without the creation of Bori State.

· Imeabe SaviourThe group formally notified the president of its planned protests.

Imeabe Saviour, president of the Ogoni Youths Development Initiative, stated the position in a September 8 letter to President Bola Tinubu. The letter was also sent to senior officials including the Senate president, the national security adviser, the head of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and the minister of state for petroleum resources.

The group called for the immediate dissolution of the Ogoni Dialogue Committee, which is negotiating with the government over the return of oil exploration. Saviour said the youths had lost confidence in the committee’s composition. They also demanded an immediate halt to secret drilling while discussions continue.

Also, we write to make our position clear regarding the clandestine and insincere moves to resume oil operations in Ogoniland. Let it be known that we are not fundamentally opposed to economic progress or oil exploration in our land.

· Imeabe SaviourThe letter distinguished the group’s opposition to the process from opposition to oil development itself.

The youths said they were not fundamentally opposed to oil exploration or economic progress in Ogoniland. But they argued that the deaths of Ogoni leaders during the region’s crisis and the environmental devastation suffered by the area made state creation essential. “If the Federal Government cannot grant this simple request of the Ogoni people by creating Bori State, then they must leave our oil in the ground,” the letter said.

If the Federal Government cannot grant this simple request of the Ogoni people by creating Bori State, then they must leave our oil in the ground.

· Imeabe SaviourThe letter presented state creation as a condition for renewed oil operations.
About this summary

Originally published by The Punch in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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