Group of civil society organisations (CSOs) in Rivers State have urged the Federal Government to suspend moves to resume oil exploration in Ogoniland pending the completion of cleanup and restoration of polluted sites in the area.

The group also called on the government and oil and gas regulatory bodies to stop issuing of licenses for commencement of new oil fields across the Niger Delta region, but instead begin the process for the clean up of the impacted areas in the region.

In a statement signed by 20 different activist groups and presented to the media in Port Harcourt yesterday, the people further demanded the reversal of all divested oil installations in the region to make the actual polluters take responsibility for their activities in the region’s communities.

Some of the CSOs who signed the document are, Oilwatch International, Environmental Rights Action(ERA), MEDi, HOMEF, KEBETKACHE, HEDA Resource Centre, Social Action, We The People, CAPPA, IPMSDL, Lekeh Development Foundation, Rainbow Watch Development Centre, Policy Alert, South-South Youths Initiative among others.

The people in the Statement said, “We the undersigned civil society organisations, environmental justice groups, community-based organisations and allies, stand today in solidarity with the people of Ogoniland to say clearly and without apology: there must be no resumption of oil production in Ogoniland under the present conditions neither should any new oil well be opened in the Niger Delta.

“This is not a statement against dialogue. It is not a statement against development. It is a statement against a process that is moving faster than the truth, faster than the cleanup, and faster than the consent of the people whose land, water and lives are at stake.

“We insist that all extractive activities in the Niger Delta must be halted and full environmental remediation to commence immediately. All ongoing and completed divestments of oil and gas assets in the Niger Delta must be revised.

“The original operators must be held fully responsible for the cleanup of pollution and environmental damage caused during their period of operation. No company should be allowed to exit or transfer assets without first completing remediation of the mess they created.

“Furthermore, the group supported the demand for a distinct State for the people of Ogoni as enshrined in “Ogoni Bill of Rights” as a way to compensate them for the “irreparable” loses they suffered in the cause of oil exploration in their land, among others.

“Fully implement the 2011 UNEP recommendations, with an independent, transparent and adequately funded restoration authority, published timelines and independent verification of remediated sites.”

The coalition expressed some doubts in the activities of Prof. Don Baridam led Ogoni Dialogue Committee (ODC), over alleged huge financial disbursements to it by the NNPCL and Sahara Energy; they therefore called on the Federal Government to make public report of the financial transactions they have had with the Committee since its inception January 2025 and also clarify the involvements of NNPCL and Sahara Energy in Ogoni oil resumption matters, among others.

“The Federal Government should make public every disbursement tied to the Ogoni process since the Dialogue Committee was inaugurated, including the earlier released N50,000,000 per local government area, the $400,000 release and the $50,000 logistics allocation, with recipients, approvals and expenditure records.

“The Federal Government, NNPC Limited and Sahara Energy must state publicly what role, if any, the company has in the Ogoni process or in any asset arrangement involving the Ogoni oil fields,” the activists insisted. (The Nation)