Falana made the announcement during his keynote address at the Ken Saro-Wiwa 30th Memorial Lecture in Port Harcourt on Friday, an event organized by a coalition of environmental civil society groups to mark the 84th posthumous birthday of the late activist and the 30th anniversary of his execution alongside eight others—known as the Ogoni Nine—for alleged treasonable felony.  

Saro-Wiwa, recently granted a posthumous state pardon and honors, was a fierce advocate for the rights of oil-producing communities, whose activism highlighted the human cost of resource extraction.

“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,” Falana said, underscoring the irony of the region’s wealth amid widespread impoverishment.  

 He accused the oil firms of profiting immensely from Nigeria’s natural resources while leaving host communities in the Niger Delta “impoverished and devastated,” describing the Ogoni Nine’s trial and execution as “not acts of justice but tools of state coercion.”  

The gathering drew activists, policymakers, and community leaders who renewed urgent calls for environmental justice. Fellow speaker Nnimmo Bassey, a renowned environmentalist, pressed government agencies to enforce accountability on defaulting oil companies and fast-track a comprehensive cleanup of Ogoniland, the epicenter of the crisis.

 Civil society representatives warned that resuming oil exploration in Ogoniland without thorough remediation would dishonor Saro-Wiwa’s sacrifice, stating, “Anything short of calling for a halt to oil resumption talks… would amount to wasting the sacrifice of Ken Saro-Wiwa and his comrades.”  

Falana’s initiative builds on the enduring legacy of Saro-Wiwa’s Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), which exposed the toxic legacy of oil spills, gas flaring, and abandoned infrastructure that have contaminated water sources, farmland, and livelihoods across the Delta. 

While specific oil majors were not named, the legal push targets those responsible for the widespread ecological damage that has fueled poverty and health crises in the region.

Falana affirmed his commitment to “take legal steps to compel them to do the right thing,” signaling a renewed offensive in the long fight for reparations and restoration.