Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People

Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People
Motto	Freedom, Peace and Justice
Formation	1990
Founders	Ken Saro-Wiwa
Type	Social Movement Organization
Purpose	Indigenous rights of the Ogoni people
Headquarters	Bori, Ogoni, Rivers State, Nigeria
Region	Ogoniland
Membership	Ethnic Minority Rights Organization of Africa (EMIROAF) Federation of Ogoni Women Association (FOWA) National Youth Council of Ogoni People (NYCOP) Ogoni Council of Churches (OCC) Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers (COTRA) Council of Ogoni Professionals (COP) National Union of Ogoni Students (NUOS) Crisis Management Committee (CMC) Ogoni Teachers Union Ogoni Technical Association Ogoni Central Indigenous Authority
President	Legborsi Saro Pyagbara
Affiliations	Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization Greenpeace International Amnesty International
Website	mosop.org

The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, also known as (MOSOP), is a mass‐based social movement organization of the indigenous Ogoni people of Central Niger Delta. MOSOP is the umbrella organization of currently 11 member groups representing more than 700,000 indigenous Ogoni in campaigning for social, economic and environmental justice in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. MOSOP's mandated use of non-violent methods to promote democratic principles assist Ogoni people pursue rights of self-determination in environmental issues in the Niger Delta, cultural rights and practices for Ogoni people.

Founded in 1990 by Ken Saro-Wiwa, Ogoni Chiefs of MOSOP initiated efforts with the Ogoni Bill of Rights. Saro-Wiwa led its submission to the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Peoples in Geneva.

The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People began as a struggle against the exploitation of natural resources of Ogoniland by Shell Oil Company, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, when in 1957 its Nigerian operations, Shell Nigeria, known as Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), struck oil in the Niger River Delta.

Communities of the Niger River Delta that had sustained their economy on farming and fishing saw that the takeover of their land by multinational oil companies was causing devastating environmental degradation. Saro-Wiwa called it an ecological war.

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