Fourteen years after the launch of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report on environmental remediation in Ogoniland, stakeholders are calling on the Federal Government and oil firms to provide more funds to complete the cleanup process.
UNEP on August 4, 2011, presented its findings on Ogoniland which revealed massive environmental degradation, following decades of extractive activities by oil multinationals led by Shell Petroleum Development Company, (SPDC), in the area.
It also made recommendations on how to remediate the land, including livelihoods programmes to be executed.
Thereafter, the Federal Government set up the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), to oversee the implementation of the report and its recommendations.
Despite challenges, HYPREP has made significant progress in implementing the recommendations of the UNEP report.
The project has provided treated water to some communities, employed Ogoni youths, and established the Centre of Excellence for Environmental Restoration (CEER) and the Ogoni Specialist Hospital.
Despite appreciable gains made by HYPREP, stakeholders believe that more funding is needed to achieve the project’s objectives.
Celestine Akpobari, a member of the task team that launched the report in 2016, praised the efforts of the Project Coordinator, Professor Nenibarini Zabbey, but emphasised the need for more funding.
“The $1 billion dollars that was set aside for that project was for the first five years,” he said. “It was take-off grant and that money won’t be enough. Ogoni cleanup will take over $300 billion dollars and other parts of Niger Delta must be cleaned like I said.”
He however, urged the Project Coordinator to ensure that work is kickstarted on the assessment of other oil impacted sites in the Niger Delta while also calling on civil society organisations to join the call on the Federal Government to provide more funding for the project.
“One more thing I want Prof Zabbey to do is to ensure that they kickstart the assessment on other polluted sites in the Niger Delta because Ogoni will not be clean until other parts of Niger Delta are clean.”
Stakeholders, including former President of the Movement For the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), Legborsi Pyagbara, and Director General of Ogoni Democratic Link, Menele Nzidee, have reiterated their commitment to the cleanup process.
They urged the youths of Ogoniland to take ownership of the projects and protect them jealously.
Pyagbara on his part said the success of the Ogoni clean up is a testament of what peaceful advocacy and resilience by a people can achieve.
He said the successes of HYPREP in driving the implementation process has put smiles on the faces of Ogoni people.
“So as far as I’m concern, today is a celebration of the resilience, the persistence, the courage and ofcourse the vision of a people who remained committed to their goal of achieving a better environment despite how it has been destroyed.
“Today, 14 years after, the story has changed . This report has provided the template for interventions not just in Ogoni but in other parts of the Niger Delta and the world where oil exploration has led to adverse impact on environment and livelihoods of the people.”
Nzidee urged the youths of Ogoniland to take ownership of the projects as they are the highest beneficiaries of the HYPREP projects.
“The project is on and it’s manifesting itself in terms of our struggle. The mangroves that’s, been planted is a manifestation of our struggle. It is not a journey for one day but it’s a journey that’s on course positively.
“To the youths, they are the greatest beneficiaries of this project because the hospital, the water, the electricity will leave with them, so it’s their own project. They should do nothing than to guide and protect it jealously and pray for the Project Coordinator,HYPREP is the product of our struggle, so we’ll nurture it, cherish it and protect it,” he said.
