The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has called on facilitators of the Ogoni Dialogue Committee (ODC) to disclose the names of beneficiaries of over 40 employment slots reportedly offered to indigenes by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
In a statement signed by its Secretary-General, Stephen Nmane, MOSOP also demanded a probe into alleged oil production activities ongoing in parts of Ogoni without the community’s consent.
The group was reacting to an ODC statement titled ‘Setting the Record Straight on the Ogoni Dialogue Process,’ which it said failed to address concerns over secrecy and accountability in the dialogue process, and had instead deepened suspicion among the Ogoni people.
MOSOP said the ODC’s failure to publish the NNPCL-approved list of beneficiaries had fuelled speculation that most of those selected were nominees of influential committee leaders and their loyalists, and it queried the alleged inclusion of non-indigenes at a time many qualified Ogoni graduates were unemployed.
The group argued that jobs offered as part of a confidence-building arrangement for an oil-producing community should not be treated like ordinary national recruitment, and questioned the ODC’s claim that NNPCL insisted on selecting beneficiaries from its national merit pool.
MOSOP further alleged that oil production was continuing in Ban-Ogoi and Alesa-Eleme without the community’s consent, faulting the ODC for reportedly investigating only the Alesa-Eleme case while ignoring reports from Ban-Ogoi. It claimed youths who protested at drilling sites were advised by engineers to approach an ODC official instead.
On contracts for confidence-building projects, the group said its concern was not the ODC’s mandate but the identities and competence of contractors, demanding disclosure of project scope, specifications and milestones.
MOSOP said it was not opposed to the resumption of oil production in Ogoni, provided the process was transparent and protected the people’s interests, urging the ODC to address these concerns before confidence in the dialogue process eroded further.