Nigeria to restart oil production in Ogoni

The Nigerian government has announced plans to restart oil production in Ogoniland after a 30-year hiatus.

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The National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, made the announcement on Thursday at a national summit organised by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to mark two years of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

According to Mr Ribadu, oil production is expected to resume soon in the region.

“Oil production will soon resume in Ogoniland after over 30 years,” he said.

Mr Ribadu also said innovative security approaches by the administration have made the Niger Delta region of the country more secured, leading to an improvement in oil production.

He said with the overhaul of Operation Delta Safe, a joint operation of the nation’s security forces, oil theft, abduction of oil workers and vandalisation of oil infrastructure have drastically reduced.

The NSA said consequently, oil production rose to at least 1.8 million barrels per day this year while all pipelines in the region are now operational for the first time in several years.

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Oil production-related infractions have also dropped by 47 percent while 1,978 illegal refineries were dismantled, he said.

The NSA said security operatives also destroyed 3,849 dugout pits and 3,773 illegal cooking ovens within the period under review.

“Because of the steps taken, Nigeria is now off the global piracy-prone list,” Mr Ribadu said.

He explained that following the general improvement in security in the Niger Delta region, the Federal Government began exploring options for the resolution of the intractable Ogoni crisis, which led to the suspension of oil production in the area 30 years ago.

Ogoni oil history

Ogoniland’s oil history dates back to the late 1950s, with exploration and production peaking in the following decades. Oilfields operated until the early 1990s, when public unrest and protests against oil companies, particularly Shell, halted operations.

Despite the suspension, the region still suffers from environmental pollution due to oil spills, leakages, and infrastructure damage.

A 2011 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report exposed the severity of the pollution, revealing contaminated water, soil, and air, with benzene levels exceeding safe limits. The report estimated a 30-year restoration timeline and called for immediate action.

Ogoni clean-up

In 2016, the Nigerian government, under President Muhammadu Buhari, launched the Ogoni cleanup initiative under the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), but progress has been slow.

READ ALSO: Nuhu Ribadu’s hell and other hellish stories, By Festus Adedayo

Local communities have remained frustrated, demanding justice, accountability, and compensation for the environmental and health impacts of decades of oil pollution.