The Nation Newspaper

Tag: clean-up

  • ‘Clean-up Nigeria’ scrubs Isolo

    It was indeed a green party in Isolo recently as youths, passionate for a cleaner environment, came out en-mass under the African Clean-up Initiative platform for “Clean-up Isolo” in an event tagged, “Green Valentine Clean-Up Special”.

    The event, which marked the 13th clean-up exercise of the Clean-up Nigeria project, an African Clean-up initiative, was organised in partnership with Greenhill Recycling to show love to the people of Isolo as well as raise environmentally conscious citizens while sensitising them on the need for a clean environment.

    The event convener, Alex Akhigbe, noted: “Out of the 12 successful projects that have been carried out by Clean-up Nigeria, this particular one seems to amaze me because, aside the support of volunteers from different part of Lagos and outside the state joining in the clean-up exercise, the people in the community also joined and we were able to clean all the gutters, blocked drainage and also swept the streets.”

  • Council launches ‘Operation clean up Ikeja’

    Ikeja Local Government Area has launched ‘Operation clean-up Ikeja’.

    During the exercise, Lagos State Environment Commissioner Babatunde Adejare said the government would overhaul waste management.

    Within the next two years, the government would reform waste management, he said.

    “We are going to have more than enough compactors that will go into every nook and corner of the state. We are going to use waste for recycle, generate energy and turn waste into money, “Adejare said.

    He urged Lagosians to take good care of the environment, manage their waste properly and refrain  from throwing waste into drainage.

    The council’s Sole Administrator, Abiodun Taiwo, noted that the initiative was borne out of the challenge of dirty and flooding in the communities.

    According to him, ‘Operation clean up Ikeja’ aims at re-orientating and educating the people on right environment habits and effective clearing of waste.

    He said the council will soon demolish of shanties and illegal structures on the drainages.

    “We have bought 250 shovels, 250 rakes, 250 brooms, 250 cutlasses, 250 boots, 250 mask and many other safety tools. We also have 10 fumigation items and a tipping tricycle,

  • Clean-up: Youth leaders demand indigenous project manager

    A coalition of Ogoni youth leaders has demanded the appointment of an indigenous project manager for the implementation of the United Nations Environment Programme’s recommendation on Ogoni clean-up.

    The leaders, under the aegis of the Ogoni Joint Youth Leadership Council, said this was necessary since the Federal Government appointed leadership of other structures outside Ogoni.

    A statement by the Chairman of the leadership council, Mr. Friday Ngbihoro and Public Relations Officer, Mr. Vincent Gbosi, said the Ogoni had in abundance environment experts with the capacity to work as project managers.

    The statement, issued at Nonwa in Tai Local Government of Rivers State, said the appointment of an Ogoni would alleviate the people’s plight and ensure compliance with global best practices, being a victim.

    It said: “We demand the appointment of an indigenous project manager, having appointed leadership of the other structures outside Ogoni.

    “We believe that the Ogoni have in abundance world-class environmentalists and project managers, whose appointment will alleviate the plight of the people and ensure compliance with global best practices, being victims.

    “We demand equal spread in these appointments across the four local governments that make up Ogoni, to give all parts a sense of belonging.”

    The youth leaders sought the action of the Federal Government and its security agencies against insecurity, particularly in Ogoniland.

    They said this could affect the implementation of the project and the legislative rerun.

    The leaders said politically-related murder, arson, communal and cult- related clashes remained a threat to peace and development of the Ogoniland.

    They hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for actualising his campaign promise to the Ogoni and by extension the Niger Delta.

    The leaders praised the inauguration of the Governing Council and the Board of Trustees for the clean-up of Ogoniland.

    They restated their belief in the Buhari administration and confidence in the Minister of Environment, Mrs. Amina Mohammed, to achieve the clean-up of the Ogoniland and other areas in the Niger Delta.

    The leaders advised youths to be peaceful, united and supportive of development-oriented leaders from Ogoni and the state.

     

  • How to clean up budget process, by Jibrin

    How to clean up budget process, by Jibrin

    Ousted Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin ( APC, Kano ) has said  transparency in the nation’s budgeting process is the only means to avoid manipulations and padding of the document.

    Jibrin, in a statement yesterday said e – parliament, one of the key points on the Legislative Agenda of Speaker Yakubu Dogara is the an effective way of making the budget process responsive.

    Among other factors he listed,  Jibrin said e – parliament would allow Nigerian to follow the due process.

    The statement reads: “The most important reform here is to ensure that budget estimates and details are returned to the floor of the House at the same time for passage.

    “This will check the fraudulent insertions by some standing Committee Chairmen and Principal Officers in the process of budget passage.

    “It is such gap that allowed Speaker Dogara, Lasun, Doguwa, Leo Ogor and few other committee Chairmen to perpetrate such monumental fraud in the 2016 budget.

    “On the mismanagement of the internal budget of the House, the most important reform the House must embark on immediately is to ensure that the internal budget of the House must be circulated to members and made public so that Nigerians can see the expenditure of its elected officials.

    “The running cost of members must be adjusted to a reasonable amount and made public but most importantly, the administration of the running cost must not be exposed to abuses as presently obtained.

    “If these measures are carried out, we will not see such secrecy in running cost and monumental fraud in the management of the finances of the House and award of fraudulent and fictitious contracts under the watch of Speaker Dogara and the Chairman Houses services, Babanle Ila.

  • Abe hails Buhari on Ogoni land clean-up board

    All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for Rivers Southeast in the legislative rerun, Magnus Abe, has hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for approving a 13-man Governing Council and 10-member Board of Trustees (BoT) for the clean-up of Ogoni land.

    In a statement in Port Harcourt, the state capital, by his spokesman Parry Saroh Benson, the APC chieftain noted that the President demonstrated sincerity and commitment to the project and proved sceptics wrong.

    The senator said the composition of the board was a step towards the implementation of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) report.

    The former Rivers State secretary to the state government (SSG) assured the Ogoni that President Buhari had the political will to execute the clean-up.

    He advised the people to resist detractors pushing them to derail the project.

    Abe said there were people who wanted the project to fail to satisfy their political gimmick.

    He said: “When we started this struggle, they called us all sorts of names. We refused to blow up pipelines and presented our case, based on the instrumentality of international laws, environmental justice and the rights of indigenous people. But today, we are a model to Niger Delta communities. History has vindicated our wisdom.”

    Abe urged the people to be patient and support the President, saying preparations were on top gear to realise the project.

  • Why Ogoniland clean-up must continue

    The cleaning of Ogoniland and other oil pollutted areas in the Niger-Delta region  must not stop with the government of President Muhammad Buhari,  the  Country Representative, Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), Dauda Garuba has said,

    He said to achieve this, the Federal Government must develop a blueprint that would made successive adminstrations to continue cleaning oil-pollutted areas.

    He said oil exploration is an on-going activity in Nigeria, and as a result,it would be difficult to rule out  pollution.

    According to him, there must be a time-table that specify areas that would be cleaned in the next 5, 10 or 15 years, the modalities required to achieve this goal, the amount of moneu needed for the porject, among others.

    Garuba told The Nation, that when when these measures are put in place, successive governments would know what to do on the issue of celaning oil-polluted sites and how to go about it.

    He said: ‘’A well-defined programme on cleaning of oil-polluted areas must be provided by Mr Buhari’s government. The programme would guide contractors hired, by the Federal Government, to clean up the sites to know what and where to start. Based on this, the clean-up exercise would be sustained.

    The polluted communities, he said, must be carried along by the government that is cleaning the land, to achieve the desired results.

    “ The clean-up exercise must be sustainable. The government must put in place measures that would help in achieving it. Failure to do this means that successive governments would be doing the same thing and, in the process waste money that would have been used for other developmental projects.’’ he added.

    He said the report provided by the  United Nation Environmental Programme(UNEP) on cleaning of oil-polluted sites must be followed, urging the government to involve more international agencies on the issue to record growth.

    Garuba noted that internal wranglings among  residents of oil producigng  communities had delayed the clean-up exercise, advising the people to unite for the progress of the region.

  • Ogonis welcome clean-up, seek conclusion of legal action

    The Ogoni people of Rivers State have praised the begining of the clean-up of their land and restoration of their means of livelihoods.

    The Bodo communities in the state are, however, seeking the conclusion of the case they filed in London against Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) for destroying their land.

    The communities, made up of over 16,000 people, have insisted that they would pursue the action to its logical conclusion.

    The Chairman, Council of Chiefs, Bodo Communities, Mene Slyvester Kogbara, at the weekend in Lagos told The Nation that his people are excited that the government has finally acceded to their demand that their land, waters and other natural habitats, be restored years after they were destroyed by the SPDC.

    He said his people were happy about the remediation exercise initiated by President Muhammad Buhari, stressing howver, that they would continue with the court case.

    He said: ‘’Without doubt, the sons and daughters of Bodo communities and the entire Ogoniland are happy that the government is planning to revamp their land. We received the idea with open arms. However, we are looking forward to a situation where the technical points or grey areas in the court case would be heard by our solicitors. We want our lawyers to get to the technical details of the matter.’’

    He said there is need to sort out the technicalities involved in the matter before the British court.

    The Bodo communities had, a few years ago, hired Leigh Day, a United Kingdom (UK) based legal firm to serve as their solicitors in a case involving them and the oil major.

    The people had demanded justice for the oil pollutions that have denied them opportunities of practising their traditional occupation of farming and fishing. Part of their demands included payment of an agreed sum as compensation and cleaning of their land by Shell.

    However, Shell has claimed responsibility for cleaning up the land in the past, contrary to the position held by the people of Ogoniland that the oil firm has neglected them.

  • Ogoni clean-up: Hope for minorities?

    Ogoni clean-up: Hope for minorities?

    Sir: The launch of the clean-up of Ogoni land in response to 2011 United Nations Environment Programme, (UNEP) report marks a potential shift from previous government management of the issue of the fragile ecosystem and sustainable development in the Niger- Delta. It is indeed a remarkable achievement in itself – a product of an unprecedented non – violent struggle by the Ogoni people to redress the socio-economic crimes by the Nigerian state through the unwholesome oil exploration activities by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).

    As laudable as the Ogoni clean-up appears, key question remains: Does the government have the political and the moral capital and indeed capability to resolve the fundamental issues of oil exploration and exploitation that drove the region into almost five decades of under-development and environmental degradation?

    The Niger Delta serves as a host community to Nigeria’s vast oil and infrastructure of 30 oil fields, 5,284 wells, and 7,000 kilometres of pipeline, 10 export terminals, 275 flow stations, 10 gas plants, three refineries and a massive liquefied natural gas (LPG) sector. This perhaps underscores the strategic importance of the region to national development hence the core issues of authentic reconciliation should be pursued by the federal government in line with the new threat from the Niger Delta Avengers to avoid further collateral damage and breach of peace in the volatile region.

    While acknowledging that criminality in the Niger Delta should not be encouraged under any circumstance particularly the destruction of strategic national assets, it is expedient that the government of the Niger Delta states and the centre acknowledge the tensions between peace and justice and to recognise that pragmatism and recent development indicate that justice cannot always claim primacy in nation-building efforts. While impunity for people who have committed the gravest acts of destroying national asset is morally repugnant, sometimes doing a deal with perpetrators is unavoidable and indeed necessary to prevent further conflict and suffering in the land.

    Going forward therefore, I am inclined to suggest that all options including the pursuit of full amnesty without undue political colourations must be on table. Pointedly, the real strategic options in addition to the clean–up campaign by the federal government should be a sustained peace process which can be done to accommodate the need for peace with the demand for social-economic justice particularly through the mechanism of deliberate development plan and projects of the region in a holistic manner.

    The NDDC and the ministry of the Niger Delta in my view are political sedative. These agencies of government have failed to incorporate the interests and aspirations of the people. Moreover, there has been no peace dividend for the communities, high levels of unemployment prevalent especially among youth and women. More are still displaced and remain mired in poverty, without proper housing and under constant military surveillance.

    It is hoped that the faithful implementation of the UNEP report in Ogoni land will be a sweet-smelling savour for healing broken minds and a foundation stone for restorative justice and authentic reconciliation mechanism for minorities in the Niger- Delta and the country at large. A policy and legislative reform to help improve social protection programmes and address unemployment is urgently needed to enforce socio- economic rights, including affirmative action or a bill of rights for minorities.

     

    • Samuel Akpobome Orovwuje,

    Lagos.

  • Ogoni clean-up: What it means to Nigeria

    Ogoni clean-up: What it means to Nigeria

    The clean-up of Ogoniland, Rivers State has begun. Port Harcourt Bureau Chief BISI OLANIYI examines what this exercise means to the country

    President Muhammadu Buhari has received accolades from stakeholders for kicking off the clean-up of Ogoniland, Rivers State. They have also said the Ogoni  exercise must be the spring board to the general clean up of the Niger Delta.

    According to  the Director Administration and Corporate Accountability of the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria  (ERA/FoEN),  Akinbode Oluwafemi, Ogoni must be a footpath to the cleaning of the region.

    Oluwafemi: “ We are happy about what has happened today, but beyond this, we must ensure that the general clean-up of the entire region should begin. This is justice for the people of Niger Delta.”

    Stakeholders also insist that the implementation of the report must include timelines which must define progress.

    According to ERA/FoEN Director, Uyi-Ojo:”In as much as the president revealed that structures would be set up for the immediate implementation of the report, no definite timelines were set for these structures to be in place to commence work.”

    He also said the government must strengthen oversight bodies, such as the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), to effectively monitor oil spillage and hold oil majors to account.

    ERA/FoEN also want the government to incorporate civil society organisations into the Governing Council of the implementation committee and actively engage the people of the region during the clean-up.

    However, it may not be time to click the glass as the UNEP Report indicates that the restoration of Ogoni land will take between 25-30 years during which no new spillage must occur.

    Minster of Environment Hajia  Amina  Mohammed said the government is aware of the challenges and working towards resolving them. “You’re not going to fix it in few years, no matter what technology you have. You have massive areas of land. Remember I said Ogoni is going to be our starting point, the rest of the Niger Delta is also polluted in heavy ways, perhaps even more so than Ogoni land.

    “Even though there have been no production in the last 20 years there are still illegal activities that again refill the pollution,” she said.

    The outgoing Executive Director of UNEP, Mr. Achim Steiner, also agreed with the approach: “A clean-up and restoration effort like this cannot happen overnight. I am hopeful that the cooperation between the government of Nigeria, oil companies and the communities will result in an environmental restoration, that benefits both ecosystems and the Ogoni people of Niger Delta.”

     

    The road to clean-up

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in 2005, appointed Rev. Fr. Matthew Hassan Kukah (now Bishop of the Catholic Church in Sokoto) as the mediator between the Ogoni people and SPDC, with one thousand petitions written against him by Ogoni people to the Vatican, but he remained undaunted.

    As part of Kukah’s reconciliation process, an impartial, international agency was to be appointed to undertake an environmental assessment and supervise the clean-up of the areas damaged by the effects of oil operations in Ogoni land.

    In order to put an end to the many years of neglect, pollution, marginalisation and environmental degradation in Ogoni and to adequately empower the people, in July 2006, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) received an official request from the Federal Republic of Nigeria to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the environmental and public health impacts of oil contamination in Ogoni land, together with options for remediation.

    In response, the Executive Director of UNEP, Achim Steiner, deployed a high-level mission in Nigeria, in order to gain a fuller understanding of the request and the expectations of the Nigerian government.

    The UNEP team had extensive discussions with various stakeholders, including the then President Obasanjo, Rivers state and local governments’ officials, especially of the four Ogoni LGAs and the management of SPDC.

    UNEP team also conducted field visits to Ogoni land and met with the key Ogoni stakeholders. A series of pre-arranged, well-publicised and well-attended public meetings helped the mission to understand local community perspectives and expectations.

    Following the preparatory consultations, the UN organisation presented a proposal (including workplans and budgets) to the Nigerian government in January 2007, for a two-phase project: a comprehensive environmental assessment of Ogoni land and an environmental clean-up to follow, based on the assessment and subsequent planning and decisions.

    Ex-President Obasanjo agreed with the UNEP’s proposals and made two suggestions: a Presidential Implementation Committee (PIC), under the chairmanship of Bishop Matthew Kukah be formed to oversee the work and that all expenses relating to the environmental assessment by UNEP should be borne by SPDC, under the “polluter pays” principle, with the suggestions agreed to by all parties.

    The team of environmentalists also made it clear that the assessment would be completely independent and was also accepted by all the parties.

    While the project was approved in 2007, administrative delays meant that fieldwork could not start until late 2009. Fieldwork and laboratory analyses were completed in January 2011. The study resulted in tens of thousands of analyses and photographs, all illustrative of the environmental situation in Ogoni land.

     

    The UNEP tough task

    Over a 14-month period, the UNEP’s team of experts examined more than 200 locations in Ogoni land, surveyed 122 kilometres of pipelines’ rights of way, reviewed over 5,000 medical records and engaged over 23,000 at local community meetings, while detailed soil contamination investigations were conducted at 69 sites.

    More than 4,000 samples were also analysed, including water taken from 142 groundwater monitoring wells, drilled specifically for the study and soil extracted from 780 boreholes. The samples were collected, following internationally-accepted sample management procedures, and dispatched for analysis to accredited (ISO 17025) laboratories in Europe.

    Extensive remote sensing analyses complemented the fieldwork, while reviews of legislation, institutions, oil industry practices and available remediation technologies were also undertaken by international experts to complete the study.

    The environmental assessment of Ogoni land covered contaminated land, groundwater, surface water, sediment, vegetation, air pollution, public health, industry practices and institutional issues.

    For the first time, there is systematic and scientific evidence available in the public arena on the nature, extent and impacts of oil contamination in Ogoni land.

    The UNEP initiative was continued in the administration of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua. On August 12, 2011, ex-President Goodluck Jonathan received the 262-page main report, which was issued on August 4, 2011.

    UNEP’s team of environmentalists made seventy six recommendations. Fifty of the recommendations are for the government, twenty two for SPDC and four for Ogoni communities.

    The UNEP report states that the water in Nsisioken-Ogale-Eleme, Eleme LGA, contains cancer-causing Benzene (carcinogen), which is 900 times the World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) standards for water contamination, thereby requiring urgent attention.

    The UNEP report also revealed that the sustainable environmental restoration of Ogoni land would take up to 20 years to achieve and recommended that the Federal Government should establish an Ogoni land Environmental Restoration Authority.

    The UNEP report indicated that the full environmental restoration of Ogoni land would be a project, which would take 30 years to complete, after the pollution had been brought to an end.

    The report recommended the establishment of an Environmental Restoration Fund for Ogoni land, with an initial fund of $1 billion for capacity building, skill transfer and conflict resolution. UNEP also recommended that the management of the fund ($1 billion) should be the responsibility of the Ogoni land Environmental Restoration Authority, among other recommendations.

    Rather than implementing the recommendations contained in the UNEP report, ex-President Jonathan inaugurated the Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP) in July, 2012, less than a month to the first anniversary of the submission of the strategic UNEP report.

    HYPREP was condemned and rejected by the umbrella organisation of Ogoni people (MOSOP), which noted that it would cover all crude oil polluted sites in Nigeria, unlike UNEP that focused on Ogoni land.

    The then presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, on January 8, 2015, during electioneering, visited Ogoni land and promised that if elected, he would implement the UNEP report.

    Buhari, on August 5, last year, after 68 days in office, approved many actions to fast-track the implementation of the UNEP report on Ogoni land, including the amendment of the official gazette establishing HYPREP, to reflect a new governance framework, comprising a Governing Council, Board of Trustees (BoT) and Project Management.

    The President, who was represented by the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, on June 2, kicked off the Ogoni clean-up at Patrick’s Waterside, Bodo-Ogoni in Gokana LGA of Rivers state.

    Buhari, in his address at the launch of the Ogoni clean-up, declared that his predecessor (Jonathan), did not accord necessary support to the full implementation of the recommendations contained in the report of UNEP on Ogoni land’s environmental assessment.

    The kick-off was attended by Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike; his counterpart from Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha; the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; the Director-General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside; the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mrs. Ibim Semenitari; and  Steiner.

    Others in attendance were Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of the Sokoto Diocese of the Catholic Church; the Managing Director of SPDC, Osagie Okunbor; Hajia Mohammed; the candidate of the APC for the Rivers Southeast Senatorial District in the March 19 inconclusive rerun in Rivers state, Senator Magnus Abe; MOSOP President, Legborsi Pyagbara; the pioneer Secretary-General of MOSOP, Prof. Ben Naanen, of the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT); ministers; members of the National Assembly and other top government officials, among others.

    President Buhari said: “Today (June 2) marks another milestone in the life of our administration. I recall the time as a military Head of State, when I visited Bodo Town in Ogoni land.

    “During that visit, I commissioned a large fish pond and planted a tree as a sign for that government’s concern for the environment. Unfortunately, since then, the degradation of land, water and air has done huge damage to the fragile ecosystem of the Niger Delta, especially the Ogoni land.

    “Oil exploration and production have been going on in Nigeria for six decades. Oil has given a boost to the Nigerian economy, but the ecosystem of the Niger Delta has been severely damaged. Fishing and agriculture have been badly affected.

    “There were acts, enactment, laws, guidelines, regulations to govern the operators of the oil industry. However, either because of lack of will or wilful non-compliance with environmental laws, the environment was put in jeopardy.”

    The President also stated that in the various communities in the Niger Delta, the negative impact of oil production and lack of consideration for best practices commenced the struggle for justice and fair-play in the conduct of business by the oil industry operators.

    He noted that quite unfortunately, the agitations led to loss of lives and property, while international concern was raised, with past governments urged to take decisive steps to address the issues.

    President Buhari said: “The report (by UNEP) was submitted to my predecessor in office (Jonathan) in 2011, but the implementation was not accorded the necessary support it required. The people of Ogoni land continued to suffer from pollution of air, land and water.

    “After listening to the address presented on behalf of the Ogoni people by Senator Magnus Abe (during his visit to Ogoni on January 8, 2015), we made a solemn commitment that if given the opportunity, we shall implement the UNEP report on Ogoni land. We are determined to put right the wrongs of the past, where the people of this land were treated unfairly and their environment unduly degraded.”

    The Rivers governor assured that his administration would provide the required platform for the successful clean-up of Ogoni land and the implementation of the UNEP report, with his administration ever willing to support the  exercise.

    Wike said: “On our part, the Rivers State government will ever be willing to provide the platform for a smooth achievement of this long-awaited intervention.

    “We acknowledge that this is a federal initiative. The direct impact is borne by our people. We therefore urge all our stakeholders to embrace and support this Federal Government’s gesture and ensure a hitch-free exercise.”

    Amaechi, who is a former governor of Rivers state,  disclosed that his administration (as Rivers governor) did everything, including going to church to pray, but the then President (Jonathan) refused to implement the UNEP report.

    The immediate past Chairman of the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers, His Majesty Godwin Gininwa, who is also the Chairman of the Supreme Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers, stated that ex-President Jonathan made a mistake by not implementing the UNEP report, in spite of being a Niger Deltan, from Otuoke, Ogbia LGA of Bayelsa State.

    Gininwa said: “Jonathan is my boy. Jonathan made a mistake. He could not do what he promised (implementation of the UNEP report).”

    Steiner  said he did not think that the June 2 launch would come, while lauding ex-President Obasanjo for the initiative, stating that the late renowned environmentalist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and other Ogoni activists did not die in vain.

    Kukah  said in spite of the one thousand petitions written against him by Ogoni people, who alleged that he wanted to return SPDC to Ogoni land through the back door, he was glad that the clean-up had commenced.

    Okunbor assured that the Anglo/Dutch oil giant would support the Ogoni clean-up and contribute its share of the Ogoni environmental restoration fund.

    Hajia Mohammed assured that the clean-up in Ogoni would be extended to other polluted sites in the Niger Delta, in order to have a safe and clean environment.

    Abe, speaking at the event, stated that Ogoni people made history on June 2 by stubbornly insisting on what was right, through non-violent struggle, rather than blowing pipelines or kidnapping expatriates and others.

    The President of MOSOP, Legborsi Pyagbara, said environmental restoration was a major plank of the Ogoni struggle.

    The pioneer Secretary-General of MOSOP, Prof. Ben Naanen, an indigene of Bodo-Ogoni, noted that with the launch of the clean-up, Ogoni people’s non-violent struggle has yielded result.

  • ‘Ogoni clean-up long overdue’

    ‘Ogoni clean-up long overdue’

    Normalcy will soon return to Ogoniland in Rivers State, following the Federal Government’s approval of N2.1billon for its clean up.

    The planned clean-up will boost socio-economic activities in the area, experts have said.

    Director in charge of Environment, Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CHERD), Mr. Obodoekwe Stevn and the Business Development Manager, Cerase Environment Services, Mrs. Gloria Igboji said Ogoniland clean-up was overdue. They added that President Muhammadu Buhari took the right step in endorsing measures that would fast-track the implementation of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) report on Ogoniland.

    Stevn noted that oil spills have destroyed human and natural habitats in Ogoniland, adding that the inhabitants of the area would go back to their traditional occupations of fishing and farming after the clean-up of their land and waters.

    He said once the money was approved by the Federal Government and it is well utilised, socio–economic activities in the area and others in the Niger-Delta, would come back to life.

    Stevn said Ogoni sons and daughters had lost touch with  nature, following the destruction of their waters and land by oil spills.

    His words: “Efforts have been made in the past to clean up Ogoniland and further help the people reclaim their natural habitats but to no avail.  However, all hopes are not lost as the government is planning to do a major clean-up in the area. The restoration of aquatic lives and others in Ogoniland depends on how well the government utilises the N2.1billion it has approved for the project.”

    Also, Igboji said  Ogoniland residents’attitude and that of other oil producing areas in the Niger Delta, use of wrong chemicals by contractors hired by oil companies to clean up the land and others, delayed the remediation and clean-up process introduced by Shell and other International Oil Companies (IOCs).

    She said the inhabitants of Ogoniland were sure of a good life now that the government had shown interest in cleaning the area.

    “Effective deployment of fund by the government is needed to make the remediation programme work.  The people in Ogoniland cannot wait to see their lands and waters cleaned up. They have been expecting it in order to improve their lifestyles,” she added.

    President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the establishment of Hydrocarbon Pollution and Restoration Project (HYPREP) governing council.

    The president, through his spokesperson, Femi Adesina, said the council would be composed as follows: the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, one representative; Federal Ministry of Environment, a representative; Impacted State (Rivers), one representative; oil companies and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation( NNPC), four representatives; Ogoniland, two representatives among others.

    He also approved the composition of a Board of Trustees for the HYPREP Trust Fund as follows: Federal Government, one representative; NNPC, one representative; IOCs, one representative; Ogoniland, and a representative  of the United Nations.