Re-imagining the Ogoni Survival

I had read that book after Obama became America’s 44th President, perhaps three years after I think, yet the starling confrontations of that book to my consciousness has left me often amazed. Nothing escaped Obama in the piece so far as his American Dream was concerned. But I would encounter the most amazing realization when I discovered Obama had written that book nearly four years before he became president. Its definite tone, so ascertaining that you’ll think Obama had made a public pronunciation of his yet unachieved ambition in that book. A purpose driven book is what I call it today, and each of the two times that I have read it, I’ve been reminded of how salient the power of imagination can be; most especially, that we can become whatever we want to be if we decide to leave a purpose driven life.

The foregoing recollection is just what a purpose driven life could do for a single individual when defined and strategically knitted to selfless ends (The American Dream as Obama’s tool in this case). Yet Obama could not have achieved what he achieved in a vacuum, thus the need to connect his dream to others with similar vision and then fly. That is what Ogoni desperately needs to survive the sophistication of the 21st century. Our history by now should be able to let us understand that the long clinging unto values that place our individual interests above those of our general society has not earned us anything. And that our individual status, whether intellectually, politically, economically, educationally is totally meaningless unless it is yoked to the developmental emancipation of ogoniland. Of what use is a single tree in a forest?

So Ogonis must begin to start thinking of the possibility of devising selflessly collective and neutral platforms that create the opportunity to discuss ogoni and come up with home grown innovative strategies of socio-economic development. Our entire focus has for so long been too based on a monopolistic footing. Fine, we do not want oil exploration in our land to be operated in a manner that threatens our existence. And we have made this point unequivocally clear. But Ogoni must survive and move on. And in this quest for survival, I strongly think that an alternative way of re-imagining our nation must begin to engage our consciousness; because if we take a company like Shell for example, I do not think that they are ready yet to compromise their stands on decades of impoverishment that they have meted on the Ogoni people, even after the glaring convictions that we saw in the UNEP Reports. And since we too are not ready to let them have their way, this scuffle is bound to last even forever, leaving our development agenda in suspense.

Stakeholders, both governmental and the private sector must begin to sit tight, consult and brainstorm the way forward. Pro-Ogoni consultancy firms on development should spring up, and the government, the local government areas should look at better ways of partnering with these agencies to industrialize and make the Ogoni society more productive. Other political stakeholders, such as those in the state and Federal arms of government, including others in top government parastatals should look at ways of playing a role here. Ogonis in the Diaspora must also take note of this new drive and become actively involved since they no doubts constitute some of the finest set of Nigerians available. To travel outside the shores of Nigeria as an Ogoni should no longer be seen as an achievement unless measured by the number of capacity such an individual has transported back home.

But this also brings another issue on the table: how we choose our leaders, and how we come up with summations of who we call a leader; because I strongly also believe that there have been serious errors in how we have selected our leaders in the past, especially those we vote in, instances where we have often replaced competency with irrational nepotism and sacrificed credibility on the altar of cataclysmic favouritism, almost without even the slightest of decorum.  But then, some of our choices have also been perfect, so vibrant that we can sleep with our two eyes and nerves closed with the full conviction that they cannot be cowed and can match up to the game.

Now I had had to battle almost relentlessly with my mental indulge to come up with this piece. My recent write up on Ogoni had been titled: “Ogoni and the fierce urgency of now”. And so I had considered whether to do a second part of it. But then the importance of this title had overwhelmed it, irretrievably; Because Ogoni has become one of the strangest places in the world. The kill-him-quick syndrome which you’ll say pervaded the world view of our ancestors has continued to occupy a predominant space in our consciousness, even in 21st century Ogoni: how young and promising brains”ll die mysteriously, some just after graduation from the university, some just at the stage where you’ll say the green light of light has started to shine on them; orchestrated by a culture of envy and jealousy often generated by the inability to find and live a purpose driven life by many has been brain-turning.

Unfortunately, this diabolic trend may last for some more time, especially where those who nurture the ability to live a purpose driven life are seen as enemies. Ogonis have been known as those who’ll bring each other down at all cost. We have been the strongest forces against ourselves despite glaring homogeneous traits that should have played to our advantage as one people.

Now there are some who’ll argue that there is still enough time left. And so the process of pushing the Ogoni agenda should be done without any urgency. They may be correct. But I think that those on that side of the debate could be considered as those clinging unto claims embedded with flaws. Take Rivers State for example, which you’ll consider as Ogoni’s immediate constituency in the political skyline of Nigeria; yet no Ogoni man since the inception of the Fourth Republic in 1999 has been a speaker in that state, or a Deputy Governor, a Minister of State, a Minister, and a Governor as intellectually as sophisticated as we are put at over 2.3 million in population and contributing significantly to the economic wellbeing of the Nigerian state, even to our own detriment.

The Ogoni, just like every other part of the Nigeria state has started this Fourth Republic unanimously. And the better we approach our being as a people with some sense of serious purpose the better for us and how we survive and thrive; because twelve years down the lane of Nigeria’s democratic journey, if you ask me to assess, I will not tell you that I am comfortable with the pace of progress that we have made so far.

Fine, we have made some strides. But considering how equipped we are, and taking a conscious perusal at those from other tribal divides and what they have achieved, I would say that the Ogoni needs to up their game. And we have a clear chance now, cutting across all sectors, most especially politically. 2015 is just around the corner again. The quest for those who will dictate the pace of the Nigeria political environment will resurface again and we must not stand on the fence this time. Those who have gained reputation as Ogonis who will always be there to bring Ogonis down must either take a cursory look at such trade or bow to the backgrounds, totally, unearthing a relentless need to rally round those with strong, viable and determined ambitions.

We have been under decades of economic marginalization already orchestrated by a long period of government policies with nearly no consideration for the dire plights of the Ogoni people and sophistry to solve issues pertaining to rural development. And that is one area where I think that Nigeria as a whole has continued to fail. Nigeria generally needs to start looking at ways of evolving developmental formulas that fit with the diverse complexities of its people. But depending on when that realization gains prominence, the Ogoni must start surfing for their own solutions to their own problems.

Green Ndume is Ogoni writer and journalist in Accra-Ghana.

Source: OgoniNews