Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana has announced plans to lead a team of lawyers against multinational oil companies operating in the Niger Delta.
The move aimed to hold these companies accountable for environmental pollution and degradation in the region.
Falana made this announcement during the Ken Saro-Wiwa 30th Memorial Lecture on Friday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
He insisted that communities producing the oil that sustains Nigeria’s economy deserve to live comfortably with all basic amenities provided, not in poverty and neglect.
The event, put together by a coalition of environmental activists, was held in honour of the 84th posthumous birthday of late environmental and human-rights activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was executed alongside eight others 30 years ago for alleged treasonable felony and recently granted state pardon and honours.
He further condemned the oil companies for profiting from Nigeria’s natural resources while leaving host communities impoverished and devastated.
He also alleged that the trial and execution of the Ogoni Nine were not acts of justice but tools of state coercion.
Other speakers at the memorial, including Nnimmo Bassey, urged government agencies to hold defaulting oil firms accountable and prioritise a full cleanup of Ogoniland.
For civil society groups, the legacy of Ken Saro-Wiwa remains a rallying point for justice and environmental restoration across the Niger Delta.
They warned that anything short of calling for a halt to oil resumption talks in Ogoniland without extensive cleanup would amount to wasting the sacrifice of Ken Saro-Wiwa and his comrades.
