Corporate Social Responsibility (IVOR nr. 77) 2010/9.1.3.1:9.1.3.1 Introduction: the Ogoni

Corporate Social Responsibility (IVOR nr. 77) 2010/9.1.3.1

9.1.3.1 Introduction: the Ogoni

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This section outlines the deeds which were inflicted on Ken Saro-Wiwa, foreman of the Ogoni, in the struggle for self-determination, especially in relation to natural resources. As here revealed, the ideals of Saro-Wiwa concurred with the worldwide human rights movement for the right to self-determination of Indigenous People.

For hundreds of years, their rural community of fishermen and subsistence farmers has lived in the Niger Delta in a harmonious relationship with its environment, as for them: "The land was considered sacred, and to commit acts that polluted or desecrated, it was viewed as an abomination and promptly visited with appropriate sanctions." Saro-Wiwa reported how he perceived this change of situation in the early nineties:

Thirty-five years of reckless oil exploration by multinational oil companies has left the Ogoni environment completely devastated. Four gas flares burning for twenty-four hours a day over thirty-five years in very close proximity to human habitation; over one hundred oil wells in villages backyards; and a petrochemical complex, two oil refineries, a fertiliser plan, and oil pipelines crisscrossing the landscape aboveground have spelled death for human beings, flora, and fauna. It is unacceptable.1

With over 600,000 inhabitants in an area of about 100,000 square kilometres, Ogoniland is densely populated.2 Nonetheless, the Ogoni represent one of the smallest of the ethnic groups living in Nigeria. Similar to several minority groups, they suffered from ethnic discrimination. Few Ogoni held key positions in government or management in the industry active in the area.3 Their exclusion as a minority group has translated into economic and social disadvantages as well as into underdevelopment of a corresponding magnitude.4

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