The Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) has called for the carving out of Ogoni blocs in Oil Mining Lease (OML 11) from the existing concession agreement between Sahara Energy and WAGL.

MOSOP made the call in a joint statement signed by its President, Engr. Olu Andah Wai-Ogosu, and its past factional leaders, Feghalo Nsuke and Priince Nuyete Biira, which was read on Saturday during the commemoration of the 33rd edition of Ogoni Day.

The statement was read by King Samuel Nnee Gbenemene of Tai Kingdom, who is also the Converner of Supreme Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers on behalf of the Ogoni people.

MOSOP leaders demanded that the Ogoni blocs in OML 11 should be carved out and be given to an indigenous firm that would be committed to the development of the area.

“MOSOP demands the unbundling, removal or carve-out of the Ogoni fields from the existing Financial and Technical Services Agreement (FTSA) between Sahara and WAGL for the OML 11 concession and the assigning of the Ogoni bloc to an indigenous operator that is acceptable to all parties and willing to make concessions and commit a fair proportion of its earnings for Ogoni development through the immediate establishment of an Ogoni Foundation or Trust.

“The details of the operationalization to ensure transparency and effectiveness will be made known in a couple of weeks,” MOSOP said.

The statement also called for the clearing of the names of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogonis who where murdered during the Gen. Sani Abacha military regime in 1993 of any wrongdoing and also confer posthumous national honours on all the 13 Ogoni martyrs.

MOSOP in the statement lamented that about 500,000 barrels of daily crude oil was trapped under the Ogoni soil since 1993 that Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC)exited Ogoni land due to disagreement with the people.

The monarch read that the people had been denied the benefit of the over 500,000 barrels per day oil trapped under the Ogoni fields, expressing the resolve of the Ogoni people to support oil resumption in the area through a special purpose vehicle which would drive development in Ogoniland.

“The commencement of a judicial review to clear the name of Ogoni Great Martyr Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa and eight  of his fellow martyrs and granting posthumous national honour to the foremost martyrs of the Ogoni struggle, also known as the Ogoni 13″, who were executed on November 10, 1995 during the regime of late Gen. Sani Abacha,” Nnee read.

The monarch said the idea of Ogoni control of its resources resonates with the goals of their founding fathers and are enforceable within the context of extant laws of the Nigerian  federation, calling for cooperation and support from all Ogonis to achieve the goals.

The body also frowned at the pace of work being done by the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project,(HYPREP), calling on the agency to fastrack the evacuation of underground oil and provide potable drinking water and also establish a mechanism within HYPREP to compensate for livelihood losses due to environmental pollution.

MOSOP also called for the fastracking of the Presidential assent to the bill for an act establishing the Federal University of Environmental Technology, Saakpenwa in Tai Local Government Area of Rivers.

The body thanked President Bola Tinubu and Gov. Siminalayi Fubara for their love towards the Ogoni people.

In a remark, the Head, Media and Communications, Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project, Mr Enuolare Mba-Nwigoh, represented by the project’s Coordinator, Prof Nenibarini Zabbey, assured the people of Ogoni of the agency’s commitment to ensuring environmental sustainability in the area.

He urged the Ogoni people to be patient and peaceful with the ongoing project.

Earlier, the Chairman of the occasion, Chief Derek Mene, called for unity and love amongst Ogonis to move the area forward.

Mene also called on the youths to queue behind leaders of the area and avoid acts capable of causing disaffection in Ogoniland.

The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, says the new minimum wage will be reviewed in less than two years from now.

Onyejeocha said this on Thursday in Umuahia, while addressing newsmen after a meeting with labour leaders in Abia.

She said that President Bola Tinubu was committed to his promise to Nigerian workers by ensuring minimum wage was reviewed after three years.

She said that the president was deeply concerned about the welfare of workers and would keep to every promise he made to them.

“We are not going to allow minimum wage review to be forever.

“It used to be about five years, but now, in three year’s time, which is less than two years, we will also review the minimum wage,” Onyejeocha said.

According to her, it has been said and it has been documented.

The Tide source reports that Tinubu had approved N70,000 minimum wage in July 2024, with a promise to review it every three years.

Onyejeocha, who hails from Abia, said that she decided to meet with the labour leaders, who she described as her constituents, “to wish them well”, after spending her Christmas and New Year holidays in the state.

She said that she reminded the leaders that labour is an integral part of the government that should help to ensure stability and peace, not just at work place, but also in the country.

“I reminded them that we should have a strike-free year, where we will be able to work with the government in partnership, knowing that if we are in peace, we will be more productive,” she said.

The Abia Chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress, Mr Ogbomna Okoro, commended the minister for her giant stride in office, saying that the body was proud of her and would collaborate with her.

Earlier, the minister, who is from a royal family, had a roundtable with the Abia State Council of Traditional Rulers, where she took time to explain some Federal Government’s policies to them.

The people of Ikwerre ethnic nationality also known as Iwhuruohna, have again warned the Igbo expansionists to desist from their ploy to incorporate Ikwerre as subgroup of the Ndigbo.

This is contained in a 14-paragraph statement by The Supreme Council of Ikwerre Government Recognized Traditional Rulers signed by its Chairman, Eze Oha Evo III of Evo Kingdom, Eze Gbakagbaka, King Leslie N.Eke and

the Secretary, Nye Nwe Ala Omerelu, Elumoha VIII, Eze Ben O. Ugo, which was made available to the newsmen in Port Harcourt, yesterday.

The statement said the Iwhuruohna remained a homogeneous ethnic group with a common ancestry and paternity and had no link with the Igbos.

“Iwhuruohna people are from Rivers State and the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The people have their unique culture and traditions. Iwhuruohna share the same ancestry with the Ekpeye and the Ogba people of Rivers State. Iwhuruohna people migrated from the Ancient Benin Kingdom during the reigns of Oba Ewuare ( Ogwaro)”, it said.

According to the statement, the  paternity of the Ikwerres can be traceable to a great grand ancestor – Akalaka  who left the Ancient Benin Kingdom in company of his sons which included IHRUOHA ( IWHURUOHNA) .

The statement further noted that the name, ‘Ikwerre’ was an ‘Igbonised’ version of ‘Akwerulem’  which was translated to mean ‘we have agreed or consented’, a response of a Rebisi monarch to an Igbo translator and a Briton during the negotiations for  acquisition of acres of land for Port Harcourt wharf.

It maintained that theory of origins linking Iwhuruohna ethnicity to Igbo ancestry was ill-conceived as a result of the balkanisation and ‘Igbonisation’ of Iwhuruohna by Igbo merchants from Aro, Nkwere and Awka who oppressed and suppressed the aborigines in their place.

The statement also explained that the earliest incursion into Ikwerre hinterland by the Igbo emboldened the proponents of Igbo expansionist theory to erroneously think or link Iwhuruohna to an Igbo ancestry.

“Till date , there are still pockets of Igbo ( Aro) settlements in such Iwhuruohna Communities at Elele, Igwuruta, Isiokpo. They are evidently Aro compounds like Aro-Omuodu, Aro-Omuodukwu, Aro-Omuma, Aro-Ogbogbu in Igwuruta and Nmgbu Oyo at Isiokpo”, it said.

“The declaration of Ogbakor Ikwerre Cultural Organization during the Chukwudifu Oputa Human Rights Panel 2001 that: Ikwerre ethnic nationality is not and has never been a subgroup of any other tribe in Nigeria, including Ndi-Igbo…’ would suffice here,” it said.

The statement further pointed out that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999(2010) as amended which recognised Iwhuruohna (Ikwerre) ethnic nationality among others as a distinct and unique ethnic group in Nigeria, and wondered why the Igbos were bent on rewriting both the history and the Constitution.

The people of Ikwerre frowned at any attempt by some Igbo expansionists to incorporate Iwhuruohna as a subset or subgroup of any other in Nigeria or elsewhere.

The statement which did not jettison  some shared similarities between Iwhuruohna and her neighbours, including the Igbos in terms of aspects of culture and traditions, said such did not, in anyway, validate the bogus and unverified claims that Iwhuruohna is Igbo as being peddled by Igbo expansionists.

The people of Ikwerre therefore called  on the Police, Rivers State Government as well as the general public to be wary of the tricks and pranks of the Igbo expansionists in the nomenclature of ‘Ohaneze Ndi-Igbo’  and their activities in Rivers State.

King Onunwor