The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Jonathan

  • Why Buhari is after Jonathan’s men – Oshiomhole

    Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole at the weekend declared that it was not wrong for President Muhammadu Buhari to beam his anti-corruption searchlight on men and women in the immediate past administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

    He stressed that the cries of selectiveness of the Buhari’s fight against corruption was uncalled for as Jonathan’s men were fully in charge of managing the Nigerian economy that have been claimed to witness many corrupt practices.

    The governor spoke during the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) event for celebrating two media icons, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, and Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in Abuja on Friday night.

    Oshiomhole, who represented the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the Chairman of the occasion, said: “They are serving a President who appreciates that these problems have to be confronted headon. The President who boldly told the world that the issue of corruption, if it is not killed, it will kill us. And since we don’t want to die, we have to kill corruption.”

    “But the forces behind corruption are powerful, some are feasible and some are not feasible. They are men and women of rich, of means. Many are even billionaires in dollars and euros.

    “Now where are the forces that will queue behind the president to confront the drivers of corruption. As you can see, people are already asking question about due process, people are asking questions about selective and so on.

    “And it will be the job of Shehu and Femi to remind people that if you managed a house for 16 years and members of the community believed that the house has not been properly managed and that the reason for the mismanagement is that some people willfully … including resorting to corrupt practices, you can only deal with those in that house, the people who had responsibility for managing the house.

    “So when you select those people and deal with them, of course it is selective. You can only select from among those who are involved with crime. Editors will help to take this to our people.” He said

    He wondered why those crying fowl play now decided to keep silent when many wrongdoings were carried out under Jonathan.

    He said: “When my helicopter was stopped when going to Ekiti State, as a governor with immunity, I was stopped by a low-level military officer from flying to Ekiti because my purpose was to campaign. I didn’t quite hear pastors protesting on my behalf.

    “When Rotimi Amaechi was detained by a Commissioner of Police in Rivers State and they moved tankers to Government House, heaven didn’t fall.” He stated

    Stressing that everything must be done now to guide the current democracy, he noted that it is not possible to fight war against corruption without having casualties.

    “It is only in Nigeria, that for 16 years a particular political party was in power, they were fighting corruption war but there were no casualties. It is like the Nigerian Police that sees criminal and shoot to the air.”

    He said that the good news is that Nigeria now has a President with enormous political will, who is determined to get the job done.

    “Whether in the course of doing it, he will make a mistake that he will become too careful as to leave the job undone. For all of us who agree, lamentations won’t be our portion forever. It is time to get organized and deal with these issues.” He added

    He urged the NGE to assist the two Presidential Media aides as they have a huge and challenging tasks ahead of them in their spokesman’s job for the President.

    The governor prayed for God to give them the desired wisdom to succeed in their assignments.

    The NGE Acting President, Garba Mohammed, said that the event was to express their happiness and back the two Presidential aides on their new jobs.

    According to him, they are round pegs in round holes and a perfect team for the jobs.

    “We will be with them through thin and thick.” He stated

    The two presidential aides were also presented with gifts during the event.

  • Ogoniland, Buhari, Jonathan and history

    On May 21, 1994, Ken Saro-Wiwa; Ledum Mitee, Dr. Barinem Kiobel and twelve others were arrested by soldiers and charged with the murder of the four prominent Ogoni sons.

    Saro-Wiwa, like other suspects, was severely beaten and injured, even before interrogation, and his legs were chained together for ten days, in spite of his heart condition.

    The Justice Ibrahim Auta-led Ogoni Civil Disturbances Tribunal, set up by the then Head of State, General Sani Abacha, was inaugurated by the then Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mohammed Bello, in November 1994, to try the fifteen Ogoni men, who were charged with the killing of the Ogoni-Four. The trial commenced in February 1995, while the members of the tribunal were sitting in Port Harcourt.

    Saro-Wiwa and others, except Mitee, were hanged after a kangaroo trial. At the heart of Ogoni’s crisis is oil giant Shell, which the people eventually banished. Its land and water are polluted and not useful for productive use. And when former President Goodluck Jonathan, who spent the bulk of growing up years in Rivers State, where Ogoniland is, became President, the people were hopeful that the clean-up of the area would be done. Jonathan spent six years as president and failed the Ogoni people.

    Buhari seems ready to perform where he failed. On Wednesday, the president approved the full implementation of the recommendations contained in the report of the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP’s) environmental assessment of Ogoniland. It is a fulfillment of his electioneering campaign.

    During the 2015 presidential campaigns, he visited Ogoniland and he promised the stakeholders that upon his election as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he would ensure the full implementation of the recommendations contained in the UNEP report. The Ogoni are excited.

    On August 4, 2011, the 262-page UNEP’s main report was received by Jonathan. He set up a Presidential Implementation Committee (PIC), headed by the ex-Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.

    The primary objective of the PIC was to review the UNEP report and make recommendations to the Federal Government on the remedial and long-term solutions. The report of the committee was subsequently submitted to former President Jonathan, without the content made public.

    Rather than implementing the UNEP report, the Jonathan’s administration, on the eve of the first anniversary of the release of the all-encompassing and strategic UNEP report, set up the Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP) on July 20, 2012.

    The inauguration of HYPREP was based on the provisions of the Petroleum Act CAP 350 LFN 2004, as a special unit under the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, to cover all pollution sites in the Niger Delta and other parts of Nigeria.

    HYPREP is to investigate and evaluate all hydrocarbon polluted communities and sites in Nigeria and make recommendations to the Federal Government. HYPREP will also restore all the communities and sites established as impacted by hydrocarbon pollution in Nigeria.

    An Ogoni daughter, Mrs. Joy Nunieh-Okunnu, was appointed as the National Coordinator HYPREP, but MOSOP kicked against the Federal Government’s HYPREP initiative, while insisting on the full implementation of the UNEP report.

    The UNEP report stated that the water in Nsisioken-Ogale-Eleme, Eleme (Ogoni) Local Government Area of Rivers State, contained cancer-causing Benzene (carcinogen), which was 900 times the World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) standards for water contamination, thereby requiring urgent attention.

    The report also revealed that the sustainable environmental restoration of Ogoniland would take up to 20 years to achieve and would require coordinated efforts from government agencies at all levels, thereby recommending that the Federal Government should establish an Ogoniland Environmental Restoration Authority.

    The UNEP report indicated that the full environmental restoration of Ogoniland would be a project, which would take 30 years to complete, after the pollution had been brought to an end, while recommending the establishment of an Environmental Restoration Fund for Ogoniland, with initial fund of $1 billion for capacity building, skill transfer and conflict resolution and that the management of the fund should be the responsibility of the Ogoniland Environmental Restoration Authority.

    Following a meeting on the directive of President Buhari, it was also agreed that a deposit of $10 million would be made by stakeholders, within 30 days of the appointment of members of the BoT for the trust fund, who will be responsible for collecting and managing funds from contributors and donors.

    A new implementation template has also been evolved at the instance of President Buhari and the environmental clean-up of Ogoniland will commence in earnest with the President’s inauguration of the HYPREP Governing Council and the Board of Trustees for the trust fund.

    Between Buhari and Jonathan, who will history judge right? The answer depends on whether or not the president sees through his implementation template. Ogoni, Nigerians and the world are watching.

  • Inside Jonathan’s Kenya holiday camp

    Inside Jonathan’s Kenya holiday camp


    Ex-president Goodluck Jonathan and his family are reported to be on holiday at the Massai Mara Games Reserve, Kenya. Here is a glimpse of the reserve which is described as one of Africa’s Greatest Wildlife Reserves

  • Jonathan, wife storm Kenya games reserves

    Jonathan, wife storm Kenya games reserves

    Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan at the weekend stormed Kenya’s Maasai Mara Games Reserve in two chartered planes.

    One of the planes carried Kenya State security and the second was occupied by Jonathan, his wife Patience and two of their children.

    He is at the reserve for a three-day tour to witness the wildebeest migration.

    Jonathan was booked at the new Angama Mara Lodge at the Oloololo conservancy.

    The ex-president was received by Narok Governor Samuel Tunai.

    Tunai, who is also the Council of Governors tourism committee chairman, said more than 500,000 tourists from all over the world are expected to witness the spectacular crossing of wildebeest across the crocodile-infested Mara River.

    Jonathan, who refused to speak with reporters on his arrival to the reserve, according to Kenya media, is the second dignitary to visit the reserve in less than a fortnight after the King of Swasiland, Mswati III. The king was booked in the same lodge six days ago.

    The owner of the hotel, Nicky Fitzgerald, said this tourism peak season is different from the past as prominent personalities from across the world have been calling for bookings.

    “We have received Mr Jonathan, King Mswati III, a Chinese prominent family and we are expecting other royalties,” said Ms Fitzgerald.

    Ms Fitzgerald said United States (U.S.) President Barrack Obama’s visit last month was a boost for tourism in Kenya.

    The trooping in of world leaders to Kenya is expected to boost the tourism sector, which is recovering from travel advisories.

    Britain has withdrawn travel advisories against Kenya and America is expected to follow suit. “Starting of direct flights between Kenya and the U.S. as Obama promised would really promote trade and tourism,” said Ms Fitzgerald.

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  • Jonathan’s kinsmen protest plot to relocate project

    •Youths threaten war

    Youths and kinsmen of former President Goodluck Jonathan in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State yesterday protested an alleged plot by the Nigeria Content Management Development Board (NCMDB) to relocate a project in one of their communities.

    NCMDB was said to have acquired land at Emeyal community during the administration of Jonathan to establish an  Oil and Gas Park.

    But following the exit of the President, some “forces” were said to have mounted pressure on the content board to move the project to another local government area.

    Sources said some people working for the state government   were making moves to take the project  to Toru-Orua, Governor Seriake Dickson’s community in Sagbama Local Government Area; others said the governmrnt had nothing to do with the moves.

    Investigation showed that the move to relocate the project unsettled Ogbia; various youth groups have been threatening a showdown.

    The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Ogbia clans, Niger Delta Youth Movement (NDYM), the Ogbia Brotherhood and Emeyal Youth Group have held a series of meetings on the matter.

    They were said to have written a protest letter to the Executive Secretary of the agency’s board, warning against any plot to divert the project.

    The letter was signed by IYC Chairman for Ogbia clans, Osaanya B. Osaanya; President, Ogbia Brotherhood Youth Council (OBYC), Daziba Apiri; Secretary-General, NDYM, Isaac Amakuro; President, Emeyal Youth Group (EYG), Victor Otobo and the National Union of Ogbia Students (NUOS).

    In the letter, the stakeholders expressed appreciation about the decision of the agency’s board to locate the oil and gas park in Ogbia, the local government area where oil was first struck in commercial quantity in Nigeria.

    They expressed concerns over speculations that the board was under pressure to move the project to another local government area.

    They said: “Ogbia youths want to inform the board that the project is welcome in Ogbia and advise the board to remain resolute to the Act that established it and keep politics out of its operations.

    “Ogbia youths will resist any attempt from any quarters, no matter how highly placed the individual may be, to remove the oil gas park out of Ogbia because the project stands to develop Ogbia and its environs.

    “It is an established fact that the board has acquired a portion of land in Emeyal community in Ogbia and pray for the board to continue the project in Ogbia.”

  • ‘Buhari’s resolve to probe Jonathan’s administration in order’

    ‘Buhari’s resolve to probe Jonathan’s administration in order’

    Abayomi Sheba is a former member of the House of Representatives. He is the Commissioner representing Ondo State on the board of the Federal Character Commission. In this interview with reporters, he speaks on the appointments by President Muhammadu Buhari and the decision to probe the administration of his predecessor, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. Deputy Political Editor RAYMOND MORDI was there.

    As a member of the Federal Character Commission, what is your reaction to appointments made so far by President Muhammadu Buhari?

    So far, the President has acted well as an experienced administrator by going for the best hands. The appointments of Service Chiefs were based purely on merit. It was devoid of political considerations and ethnic or primordial cleavages. He has not acted contrary to the laws of the land because, less than five per cent of the available appointments have been filled. Even as it is, there is no geo-political zone that is not represented. By the time all the appointments are made, I believe every state will be represented.

    Has he breached any provision of the law on appointments?

    Not yet because appointments into all the available vacancies in the present administration have not been concluded. Section 14(3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) states that “The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few States or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies.” This section was amplified by the provisions in Part 1 (C) of the Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and made justiceable by the Federal Character Commission (Establishment, etc.) Act Cap F7 LFN 2004. Key appointments such as that of the the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), the Chief of Staff, Ministers, Executive Directors and Board members are yet to be appointed. Consequently it will preposterous to draw any conclusion now.

    How can the fear of the people be allayed that the President has not shown bias in his appointments?

    The fears of our people can only be allayed by the President through strict adherence to the letters of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and all the extant rules and laws that governs appointment to public office in Nigeria. As I said earlier, the President is not a novice, he knows the law and I am sure he will apply it as it is and not as it ought to be.

    How can the crisis rocking the National Assembly be amicably resolved?

    My appeal to the principal actors and all the dramatis personae in the National Assembly imbroglio is for them to toe the path of constitutionality and respect the supremacy of the Political Parties that sponsored them. There is no provision yet in our constitution for independent candidacy. Hence the parties must be respected as it’s the norm in advanced democracy. Take for instance in South Africa, Thabo Mbeki was asked to step down as President by his party, the ANC, and he complied. Parties should be strengthened so that they can maintain discipline.

    The time to work hard is now. They must forget all their bickering and move on with the job they are elected to do. To whom much is given, much is expected. There is so much work to be done. We need laws to tackle corruption, insecurity, kidnapping, armed robbery, banditry, etc. The electorates are tired of the infighting in the House. They should get back to the business they are elected to do and that is legislating for good governance and the well being of Nigeria.

    What is your reaction to the constituting the federal cabinet delay more than two months after assuming office?

    The President has not breached any law in this regard. I am sure he is taking his time to have a full grasp of what is on ground before assigning roles to people. When President Obama was first elected, it took him almost seven months before appointing his cabinet. Ditto the late President Umaru Yar Adua in 2007 appointed his ministers almost three months after inauguration. It is better to understand fully what’s on ground before constituting the cabinet, than coming in with wrong people. In any case, the President has promised to do this in September. So, let’s wait for him. Nigeria this time around deserves the best.

    The President has declared his intention to probe the administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. What is your view on this?

    If we must reckon with what we are reading about the last administration on the social media, I think the era must be probed. How would ministers be stealing over one million barrels of crude oil per day? If it’s true, it’s scandalous and cruel. The probe should however be targeted at recovery of our stolen wealth and patrimony. Culprits should be punished according to the laws of the land to serve as deterrent to others.

    Are you in favour of slashing salaries and allowances of lawmakers, which have been described as outrageous?

    On salaries of National Assembly members, sincerely speaking nothing is wrong or outrageous with the salaries as proposed by the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMFAC). The problem is the bogus allowances injected into the budget when preparing the budget. This must be discouraged by this administration. Nigeria must rise again, because change has come.

    What is the best way for President Buhari to checkmate corruption?

    We must be able to identify the loopholes and leakages in the system and plug them. While I urge the President to reward hardwork, industry and good behavior, sanctions must be meted out for any act of impunity and any anti-social acts. We must also strengthen all the anti corruption agencies in the land, and review outdated anti-corruption laws.

    The recent bail-out to states by the Federal Government has been attracting mixed reactions. What is your view on it?

    It’s a right step in the right direction. I give kudos to Mr. President. Even Greece was given a lifeline recently by the European Union (EU). So, nothing is wrong with that. But, it’s important that states must make judicious use of the money and it must not be diverted. It must be used for the purpose for which it was granted. States must also diversify their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) mechanism, so that they will not always go cap in hand to the federal government.

  • Oshiomhole: Jonathan’s agric revolution a big scam

    Oshiomhole: Jonathan’s agric revolution a big scam

    Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole has criticised the much touted agricultural revolution of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, describing,  it as a big scam. The nation, he said, is still import-dependent on rice and other foods.

    Speaking with The Nation, Oshiomhole accused the past government of frittering away over N800billion on waivers for rice millers and others. The past government, he added, also killed local rice production and made agriculture unattractive.

    “The agriculture revolution was one of the advertised achievements of President Goodluck Jonathan but we have since realised that it was purely a scam on us. It is also a policy contradiction where a government will give waivers and support importers to import what can be produced locally, thereby putting its own people out of business while enriching other nations. Local manufacturers that produce locally are punished. Unfortunately for us, rice millers imported rice without even paying duties, as a nation we should not be seen to be importing what is locally produced. Where then is the success story in the sector? Agriculture is not about bow-ties and designers suits but hard facts that cannot be uncontroverted.”

    According to him what the rice millers are practicing is known as dumping in international trade. He accused them of importing all manner of things both the good and the expired and dump it on the people whose government failed to protect due to corruption and maladministration.

    Oshiomhole also called for the immediate discontinuance of fuel importation, urging President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure the refineries are made to produce to local capacity.

    He commended local entrepreneurs such as the President, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote who he said though received waivers on VAT posed on local production of rice and cement.

    On the planned revitalisation of Edo Cement Company at Okpella, he regretted that previous wrong policy of the People Democratic Party caused the ownership of the plant to change three times because rather than locally producing cement the company was importing the product.

  • PDP chieftain insists Jonathan’s Centenary City project was ‘fraud’

    PDP chieftain insists Jonathan’s Centenary City project was ‘fraud’

    The National Vice Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) South-South, Dr. Cairo Ojuigbo, has questioned the integrity of ex-Goodluck Jonathan’s administration Centenary City Project in Abuja.

    Ojuigbo, who spoke in Abuja through his lawyer,  Kayode Ajulo, alleged that the integrity of the processes leading to the project was doubtful.

    The party chieftain,  who also chairs the Nigeria Export Processing Authority (NEPZA), was reacting to a report that former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Anyim Pius Anyim sued him for maintaining a similar position in media interviews.

    Anyim, in the N1 billion libel suit filed by his lawyer, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), claimed that Ojuigbo’s position was a slander on his person and could scare foreign investors.

    Ojuigbo said had instructed his lawyer to file a counter-suit once he received the court papers.

    The PDP chieftain, who expressed his determination to ensure that those behind the project, who acted unlawfully, were prosecuted, said he had petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IGP).

    Ojuigbo, who maintained his position, insisted that the “processes leading to the Centenary City, were elaborate and conceived to defraud the government and Nigerians.”

    His lawyer said he “remains un-intimidated and resolute in his claims and submission that the Centenary City Project is indeed a project devised to trick the authorities into giving a huge chunk of land to only one man under the guise of a Public Private Partnership.

    “Our client is resolute about his submissions and would leave no stone un-turned in his bid to bring the full detail of this scam to  public scrutiny and ensure that perpetrators of this fraudulent exercise are prosecuted by the law enforcement authorities.

     “Indeed, we have the authority of our client to initiate legal proceedings by way of sending petitions to the appropriate authorities as regards the issue.

     “It is this that made so laughable and ridiculous, the reports that the counsel to the ex-SGF had initiated legal proceedings against us; we are, therefore, expectant and eager to receive the papers and have our day in court, even as we pursue justice and reparations for victimisation in appropriate quarters.

    “We call on the Fourth Estate and the public to remain vigilant and keep these burning issues on the front burner, even as we are confident in the victory of justice and equity, over crime, corruption and dishonesty.”

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  • Stay out of Bayelsa politics, group tells Jonathan

    Stay out of Bayelsa politics, group tells Jonathan

    A former presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and chairperson of Akasoba Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution (ACPCR), Prof. Akasoba Duke-Abiola, has asked former President Goodluck Jonathan to stay out of Bayelsa and Niger Delta politics.

     Mrs Duke –Abiola, who spoke ahead of the governorship election in Bayelsa State, told her supporters that because Dr Jonathan illegally appropriated her presidential nomination form (001) during the last presidential election, he was bound to fail.

     Speaking in Yenagoa at a reception in her honour, she said that Jonathan could not win his ward in Aso Rock during the last election and thus could not be trusted to toy with the people’s destiny anymore.

    “Since you have all pledged to support Governor Seriake Dickson, then one million Jonathans’ cannot stop you from exercising your constitutional rights. You must vote according to the dictates of your conscience. As law-abiding citizens, you must protect your votes,” she said.

    Mrs Duke-Abiola said the people of the Niger Delta must be steadfast in their determination to retrieve billions of dollars allegedly stolen under former President Jonathan’s administration. “It is imperative that the stolen funds are returned in order to develop Niger Delta.

    She said the massive looting under Jonathan’s administration was an injustice to the people of Nigeria and such funds must be returned to the poorest people in the country.  She accused some members of the Peace Committee of pleading for clemency for the former president- an allegation the committee has denied. “Our message is simple. Be ye first clement to the poor through the proceeds of your oil blocks and private jets before you plead for clemency for Jonathan and his cohorts; there must be justice before peace.”

    Mrs Duke-Abiola accused the former president of neglecting the Niger Delta while he was in office. “How can anyone tell the Niger Deltans that Goodluck Jonathan of Otuoke was once a president of this country? Where is the Federal presence? Where are the projects? Why is there lack of employment?  In our recent tour of Otuoke and other Niger Delta regions, you saw for yourselves the abysmal level of poverty and insecurity.”

  • Ogoniland, Buhari, Jonathan and history

    On May 21, 1994, Ken Saro-Wiwa; Ledum Mitee, Dr. Barinem Kiobel and twelve others were arrested by soldiers and charged with the murder of the four prominent Ogoni sons.

    Saro-Wiwa, like other suspects, was severely beaten and injured, even before interrogation, and his legs were chained together for ten days, in spite of his heart condition.

    The Justice Ibrahim Auta-led Ogoni Civil Disturbances Tribunal, set up by the then Head of State, General Sani Abacha, was inaugurated by the then Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mohammed Bello, in November 1994, to try the fifteen Ogoni men, who were charged with the killing of the Ogoni-Four. The trial commenced in February 1995, while the members of the tribunal were sitting in Port Harcourt.

    Saro-Wiwa and others, except Mitee, were hanged after a kangaroo trial. At the heart of Ogoni’s crisis is oil giant Shell, which the people eventually banished. Its land and water are polluted and not useful for productive use. And when former President Goodluck Jonathan, who spent the bulk of growing up years in Rivers State, where Ogoniland is, became President, the people were hopeful that the clean-up of the area would be done. Jonathan spent six years as president and failed the Ogoni people.

    Buhari seems ready to perform where he failed. On Wednesday, the president approved the full implementation of the recommendations contained in the report of the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP’s) environmental assessment of Ogoniland. It is a fulfillment of his electioneering campaign.

    During the 2015 presidential campaigns, he visited Ogoniland and he promised the stakeholders that upon his election as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he would ensure the full implementation of the recommendations contained in the UNEP report. The Ogoni are excited.

    On August 4, 2011, the 262-page UNEP’s main report was received by Jonathan. He set up a Presidential Implementation Committee (PIC), headed by the ex-Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.

    The primary objective of the PIC was to review the UNEP report and make recommendations to the Federal Government on the remedial and long-term solutions. The report of the committee was subsequently submitted to former President Jonathan, without the content made public.

    Rather than implementing the UNEP report, the Jonathan’s administration, on the eve of the first anniversary of the release of the all-encompassing and strategic UNEP report, set up the Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP) on July 20, 2012.

    The inauguration of HYPREP was based on the provisions of the Petroleum Act CAP 350 LFN 2004, as a special unit under the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, to cover all pollution sites in the Niger Delta and other parts of Nigeria.

    HYPREP is to investigate and evaluate all hydrocarbon polluted communities and sites in Nigeria and make recommendations to the Federal Government. HYPREP will also restore all the communities and sites established as impacted by hydrocarbon pollution in Nigeria.

    An Ogoni daughter, Mrs. Joy Nunieh-Okunnu, was appointed as the National Coordinator HYPREP, but MOSOP kicked against the Federal Government’s HYPREP initiative, while insisting on the full implementation of the UNEP report.

    The UNEP report stated that the water in Nsisioken-Ogale-Eleme, Eleme (Ogoni) Local Government Area of Rivers State, contained cancer-causing Benzene (carcinogen), which was 900 times the World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) standards for water contamination, thereby requiring urgent attention.

    The report also revealed that the sustainable environmental restoration of Ogoniland would take up to 20 years to achieve and would require coordinated efforts from government agencies at all levels, thereby recommending that the Federal Government should establish an Ogoniland Environmental Restoration Authority.

    The UNEP report indicated that the full environmental restoration of Ogoniland would be a project, which would take 30 years to complete, after the pollution had been brought to an end, while recommending the establishment of an Environmental Restoration Fund for Ogoniland, with initial fund of $1 billion for capacity building, skill transfer and conflict resolution and that the management of the fund should be the responsibility of the Ogoniland Environmental Restoration Authority.

    Following a meeting on the directive of President Buhari, it was also agreed that a deposit of $10 million would be made by stakeholders, within 30 days of the appointment of members of the BoT for the trust fund, who will be responsible for collecting and managing funds from contributors and donors.

    A new implementation template has also been evolved at the instance of President Buhari and the environmental clean-up of Ogoniland will commence in earnest with the President’s inauguration of the HYPREP Governing Council and the Board of Trustees for the trust fund.

    Between Buhari and Jonathan, who will history judge right? The answer depends on whether or not the president sees through his implementation template. Ogoni, Nigerians and the world are watching.