Tech4Rural against oil spills and drilling in Ogoni

Ogoni oil history

Oil drilling is never a clean process, and the Niger Delta has been dirty for decades. Since Royal Dutch Shell stopped the oil production in the 90’s after widely supported protests that ended tragically for some of the activists. Despite this extremely high price, the land has not been cleaned up. Spills, pollution and loss of land and livelihoods have left thousands of families in Ogoni struggling in the last decades. Over 2000 people are believed to have died from the long-term impacts. In 2011, the UN’s Environmental Program has called for an urgent clean up, but nothing has changed since. People still live on contaminated soils and are dependent on polluted water. The international bodies’ words stay empty, and the people in Ogoni feel forgotten. In the end of 2025, the 30 yearlong abandoned infrastructure broke down and caused a million liters crude oil spill, and the Nigerian government announced wanting to resume oil extraction in Ogoniland. The government says a committee is formed to consult local leaders, but key voices have been left out, and no one in the region is waiting for the resumption of oil drilling. Ogoni people want a clean-up of their land, environmental restoration and reparations for the immense losses, not another round of destruction of their land and livelihoods!

Nothing About us Without us

Decisions about the future of Ogoni land continue to happen without real involvement from the people who are actually affected. With a.o. the help of Het Actiefonds, Tech4Rural launched a campaign to voice a discourse that reflects the community’s true concerns. The campaign started with a day of action and awareness sessions. Participants were able to voice and gather their exact demands and talk about the importance of protest and action. Instead of giving up, as the situation often seems hopeless, people got together, shared personal stories and experiences, and why they stay into environmental advocacy. Later, about 60 people marched into the streets to voice their demands and make them known to the oil companies and government. The protest received considerable media coverage, a good start for the rest of the campaign and the movement building against this new episode of fossil fuel fever of the Nigerian government. The campaign continues with online awareness raising, press statements, petitions aiming at 300,000 signatures, and a broad movement building. With the creation of an oil spill update blog platform where people can get real-time updates regarding the issue of oil spills, they want to put pressure on the government to take reconsider their plans. They will continue until the resumption of drilling is off the table, and environmental restoration and meaningful participation in decision-making processes are guaranteed. No more broken promises! What was possible in the 90’s is possible now!

Tech4Rural

Central in their work is the CoMapeo app that is used by local communities to report oil spills happening in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, in order to gather correct date about the spills, and to be able to combat the official reports given by the oil companies, which are highly incorrect. Data from the app are also shared with media houses for publicity and the government to increase pressure for clean-up and reparations. Tech4Rural also makes these data available in support of communities and other organizations that want to carry out legal action against the oil companies causing this pollution. With their current focus on movement building, they aim at more people to adopt regular use of the app and increase their data collection in the region.

Het Actiefonds is very proud to have supported Tech4Rural for this action, and will continue to stand in solidarity with them, and with anyone who fights extractivism!!