OGONI YOUTHS IN DIASPORA CONFERENCE

C/O NATIONAL UNION OF OGONI STUDENTS (NUOS INT’L.)

1751 W. DEVON AVE. CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, 60660, USA.

TEL./FAX: 773-465-4788. E MAILS: nuos_intl@usa.com

 

                                March 8, 2001.

 

The OGONI youths in the Diaspora, consisting of representatives of NUOS INT’L, OSU USA and NYCOP USA attended a conference on Saturday, March 3^rd, 2001 at Kansas City, Missouri, USA. We deliberated on the state of affairs in our motherland Ogoni, and also in Nigeria in general.

 

The conference provided a framework for examination of all facets of our struggle for environmental justice and self-determination in the context of the Nigerian sovereign state. At the end of our conference, the following resolutions were passed.  We (representatives of the Ogoni youths in the Diaspora) :

 

1.  Reaffirm MOSOP’s position that Shell remains “persona non grata in Ogoniland”.

 

2. Reiterate that Shell must own up to its responsibilities to the Ogoni people by conducting Environmental, Social, Health impact assessment studies in Ogoni; provide other infrastructures such as pipe-borne water, electricity, telecommunication services, health facilities, educational opportunities; clean up all oil-polluted areas in Ogoni and remove its dangerous facilities from Ogoni.

 

3. Restate our demand that the Federal Government of Nigeria should amend the Land Use Decree that expropriates the land and the resources from the Ogoni people and other Nationalities in the Niger Delta. We believe that President Obasanjo can use his visit to Bayelsa State to introduce this amendment. The forum calls on the Nigerian Government to address the genuine demands of the Ogoni people as enshrined in the Ogoni Bill of Rights (OBR).

 

4. Express Concern that the Justice Chukwudife Oputa Human Rights Panel did not treat the Ogoni victims of Human rights abuses in the same way it treats other cases from other parts of Nigeria. We condemn in the strongest terms, the dangerous and hurriedly signed so-called “Peace Accord’ which the Wiwa family has dissociated itself from..

 

5. Condemn in the strongest terms, the World Environmental Center’s (WEC) award to Shell. The forum views this award as an attempt to greenwash Shell’s cruel environmental practices in Ogoni, the Niger Delta and in the world in general..

 

6. Invite all lovers of freedom and justice, environmentalists, human rights defenders and organizations,  to condemn the WEC’s award to Shell and join us to protest  the award on May 18^th 2001in Washington D.C

 

 

7.  Salute the courage of the Ogoni people, and the peoples of the Niger Delta for the peaceful  conduct of our struggle for environmental and human rights.

 

“ Lord take my soul, but the struggle continues “ Ken Saro-Wiwa, Nov.10 1995.

 

 

 

                 Anslem John-Miller                                                KorneBari Nwike

            (Chairman, Caretaker Committee)             (Secretary, Caretaker Committee)