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Tag: Ogoni clean up

  • Netherlands to support Nigeria on Ogoni clean-up, says envoy

    The Netherlands Ambassador to Nigeria, Ms. Marion Kappeyne, yesterday pledged her country’s readiness to support the Federal Government to clean-up decades-long oil spills in Ogoniland, Rivers State.

    Ms. Kappeyne spoke in Ebube while inspecting ongoing remediation of one of the polluted sites in Ebube community, Eleme Local Government Area of the state.

    According to her, the clean-up project was one of the Federal Government’s top priorities that needed the support of all.

    She said: “I came to see things for myself rather than sitting in Abuja and just reading them in the newspapers. This part of the country (Niger Delta) is very important, and so, we are following things up to ensure the clean-up is a success.”

    She expressed confidence that the clean-up would be carried out in line with global best-practice due to collaboration and supervision of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

    The envoy said: “The people are assured that they are not forgotten, as we came to see how we can support the clean-up.

    “I understand the impatience as people want to see results in cleaning up of their lands. I can see that work is ongoing and hopefully it will produce results soon.

    “However, it will be of no one’s interest that the lands which are being remediated get re-contaminated again.”

    Also speaking, the UNEP representative to Nigeria, Mike Cowing, said the global body was satisfied with biological processes being carried out in the Ebube remediation site.

    He said the Federal Government had re-engaged UNEP to strengthen  the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project  (HYPREP)  for full implementation of the 2011 UNEP recommendations.

    Cowing said: “The Ebube site is a site that is going to be less complex. When we move to the heavily contaminated sites, then we will face a more sophisticated remediation approach. For site of this nature, what I am seeing now is appropriate and in line with what I had expected.”

    Cowing said UNEP had not only initiated some training courses, but taken members of the clean-up governing council to the United Kingdom (UK) for training.

    Read also: Ogoni Clean-up: Paramount ruler urges FG to mobilise contractors

    He said: “We took them to the UK to expose them to large remediation projects in the UK, so that they would have an understanding of how projects are done.

    “The council members were exposed to the technology, planning, contractual relationship as well as compliance to legislation.”

    Dr. Marvin Dekil, Project Coordinator of HYPREP, said contractors handling the clean-up were already using one of the best soil treatment technologies, biocell, for the project.

    According to him, biocell was a biological treatment facility that remedies contaminated soil with use of natural micro-organisms.

    He said: “The contaminated soil is excavated and put into the biocell for bio-remediation treatment to take place. This allows the natural micro-organism to degrade the contaminated soil.

    “The micro-organism degrades the contaminated soil to a level that would be good enough for us to return the soil back to where we took it from.”

    Dekil said the clean-up was the first time the Federal Government would be undertaking such task and, as such, was taking practical steps to ensure its success.

    HYPREP was set up by the Federal Government in the Ministry of Environment to coordinate the clean-up of the polluted Ogoniland.

  • Why Ogoni clean up may fail, by Abe

    Senator Magnus Abe (Rivers South East) has warned that the ongoing Ogoni clean up may not succeed due to increasing insecurity.

    He added that unrestrained pollution of Ogoni land is another reason why the clean up may fail.

    Abe, who stated this as part of his lead debate on a Bill for Act to establish the Federal University of Environment, Science and Agriculture in Ogoni Land, noted that no fewer than six people die in Ogoni land daily.

    According to him, contracts have been awarded for the clean up but insecurity is a major issue in the area.

    The people, he lamented, were running away because of the worsening security situation.

    The senator, who urged the Federal Government to take measures to stem the insecurity, insisted that unless the security and continuous pollution of the environment are addressed, no meaningful clean up could happen. He said: “I know that contracts for the clean up of Ogoni land have been awarded. Right now, the security situation in the area does not provide for a meaningful economic or even contractual activity to happen. Every day, about six people die in one community or the other. Many residents have abandoned their homes and ran away due to violence. So, in that kind of atmosphere, it will be difficult for any contractor to be somewhere in the bush alone working? I don’t think that is possible at this time. But I believe it is our responsibility as a nation to address these security issues so that real development can happen.

    “Any clean-up that goes on without first addressing continued pollution of the environment is a waste of everybody’s money. Addressing the security issues in Ogoni land is foundational to the success of the cleanup. “However, due to public pressure, people want to see the clean up going on and contracts awarded, people want to believe that something is going on not considering the security challenges in the area.

    “What I think should be done to address insecurity is that every society rewards the behaviour you want and punish the behaviour you don’t want. In the Niger Delta, violence is being rewarded. If you engage in violence you are rewarded. All over the country criminality is being rewarded.

    Read also: Abe: I knew Supreme Court would strike out my motion

    “People must be held accountable for their action. When people kill people, you say it is cult, it should be murder. What does Nigeria expect of Nigerians, we don’t know because we have not agreed. We must be a country that stands by the truth. If we really want change in Nigeria, everybody must stand up for it. “What is happening is that everybody thinks they can secure their space. We must decide that we cannot tolerate what is wrong. Everybody cannot go to jail, it is not possible. Stand for the truth.”

    On the proposed university, Abe said: “One critical objective of the University will be to establish improved scientific standards and train more competent apprentices and students who will fill the vacancies that expatriates are currently occupying due to lack of local competencies.”

    Abe added that the university, when established, will produce specialists and graduates in different areas of environmental challenges such as Environmental Management/Engineering, Environmental Accidents, Water Pollution, Hazardous waste detection and management, Soil Contamination, Ozone Depletion, Assessment, Remediation, and protection of air and water resources, River Basin Management, Flood Protection and Drought prevention.

  • UNEP to provide technical support for Ogoni clean-up

    The Federal Government has re-engaged the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) to provide technical support to the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), and ensure that the Ogoni cleanup exercise is executed in line with the UNEP recommendation.

    Project Coordinator of HYPREP, Marvin Dekil, said the Federal Government has re-engaged UNEP for the next one year to work with HYPREP in all aspects of the project, while also providing technical support in communication and project management.

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    It would be recalled that, remediation works have commenced in the four local government areas of Ogoniland following the recent hand over of 16 polluted sites to contractors by HYPREP.

    Dekil added that the re-engagement of UNEP was to ensure that its recommendations as contained in the 2011 report were successfully implemented.

    He said: “They are going to carry out high level training and I can assure you that the Federal Government’s commitment to the Ogoni clean-up is unwavering. We are soliciting the support of the youths, women and the entire community leadership to ensure the project is successful.”

  • The problem with Ogoni clean-up, by ex-MD

    •Bid process competitive and transparent – HYPREP

    Former Managing Director, Treasure Energy Limited, Rivers State owned Oil and Gas Company, and former Manager in Shell, Eddie Wikina, has queried the Federal Government’s sincerity in implementing the clean-up in Ogoniland.

    Wikina observed the contracts awarded had less than one per cent Ogoni content, wondering how the exercise that involves the whole of Ogoniland would have little or no indigenous participation in its implementation.

    Speaking with The Nation on telephone, he noted that the Federal Government through its agency, the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), had handed over about four of the polluted sites to the contractors that won them.

    “But to be honest, there’s a lot of suspicion by the Ogoni people about what the government is doing, but then when you talk to the people in the HYPREP, they will tell you that things are going according to plan,” he added.

    According to him, the contracts processes were hijacked by those in authority such that the owners of the land were denied the opportunity to be part of the contracts. Just a little less than one per cent of the contracts belong to Ogoni people, how do you intend to help the people to gain from the exercise, he asked, adding the idea of the whole exercise is to help the people deal with the issues of unemployment and militancy, how does the government want to achieve that, he asked.

    Wikina argued the government agency (HYPREP) even though they claimed they did a tendering exercise in choosing their contractors yet all the exercise was done by the Federal Ministry of Environment and they did not give the Ogoni people the opportunity to be part of the tendering exercise.

    Read also: NAF kills scores of bandits in Zamfara

    According to Wikina, the project office should have been located in Port Harcourt where decisions were taken, and not in the Federal Ministry of Environment in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Again, all the contracting processes should also have been located in Port Harcourt, and tenders open in the state so that if you have any question, you  can go to the Port Harcourt office, you don’t have to go to the federal capital.

    ‘’Also there should be a clause that would specify that a minimum number of contracts should go to the people. There should be specific aspects of the contracts that should be left completely to the Ogoni people, we did that in Shell and it succeeded, he added.

    ‘’If you give some of these contracts to the Ogoni people, you would have empowered them, and created direct jobs for them and by so doing, most of the boys on the streets would be absorbed directly and get them out of the streets and that would help to reduce militancy in the area, he added.

    When you give all the jobs to outsiders in the name of business, they will come with their own group of people because they want their own people, how does that help the owners of the land the exercise is meant for, he asked.

    “How do you tell a poor contractor in Ogoni who probably wants to supply sand to go to Abuja to send contract documents, you are not being fair to him, where will he get the money from, that’s why the people are suspicious of what the government is doing,” he said.

    ‘’When you look at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report, the key things that were recommended were neglected, for example, it was recommended that the government should provide good drinking water in all the areas, they haven’t done that. The government should build a centre of excellence in Ogoniland and they have not done that, and these are the things recommended clearly written in the UNEP report’’.

    UNEP, in its report, had recommended that a Centre of Excellence for Environmental Restoration should be established in Ogoniland to promote learning in other areas impacted by oil spills in the Niger Delta. Offering  a  range  of  activities  and  services,  the  Centre  could  run  training courses in environmental monitoring and  restoration  and  ultimately  become  a  model for environmental restoration, attracting international attention.

    However, the Coordinator, HYPREP, Dr. Marvin Dekil, on telephone with The Nation, said the agency was set up following the report of the United Nations Environment Programme. According to him, the reason the UNEP was chosen to do the assessment was because the best international capacity and competence was required to carry out the assessment,  adding  the recommendations for implementation was also intended to be done by the best international hands as well as the locals.

    Dekil said the option of the international competitive bidding was applied while advertising for companies for the clean-up, adding the international option was needed because the people wanted the best hands in the exercise.

    “Another key component of the clean-up, he said, was the development of local capacity of the indigenous companies. So what that means is that the local people as well as local companies are trained to prove the competence to carry out the remediation work.

    “It means that we have to think of the best strong hands and also train more of the local companies so that subsequent bidding of the project would include more of the indigenous contractors having been trained on the skills.

    “The process that brought about the companies we are using is an international competitive process which is also provided by the Nigerian procurement Act of 2007. So, we went through a very robust and transparent process in doing the work and in selecting those companies, again, there’s a provision for training for other local companies to participate in the project”, he explained.

    He stressed a proper understanding of the process was required for the people to know  that the project was actually intended to empower and train more of the local companies, and local people in the remediation and other deliverables of the project.

    Dekil disclosed  that HYPREP was also doing training for the youths. According to him, HYPREP had also engaged the youth at different levels with regards to how they could capture the business opportunities that the project provides through training.

    He added that the agency would still  do more of such training to enable the youth and the business communities in Ogoniland understand the procurement processes as regards their own national loss and the best way they can comply and be involved more in the process.

    Meanwhile, HYPREP is a government project and the provision of the procurement law also applies, he stated.

  • Ogoni Clean-up: CSO launches independent monitors

    ENVIRONMENTAL Right Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has described the purported commencement of the Ogoni clean-up claim by Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) as false.

    HYPREP, last month, engaged in a media hype on the alleged kick off of implementation of the eight-year-old United Nation Environmental Programme (UNEP), with the handing over of six sites to companies, which reportedly won the contracts.

    But the group’s Executive Director, Dr. Uyi Ojo, yesterday, said the independent inspection by ERA on the sites in Ogale, Ueken, Korokoro and Bodo among others, showed there was no sign the job had begun in any of the sites.

    Oyo spoke at a news briefing to update stakeholders and reporters on the clean-up in Ogoni, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital yesterday.

    At the event, 100 Community Independent Monitors (CIM), trained and equipped by the ERA, were unveiled, to provide qualitative and scientific progress reports on the clean-up process.

    Describing the discovery as unfortunate, ERA/FoEN deplored the Federal Government and HYPREP for playing with the emotions of the Ogoni people.

    He appealed to the Federal Government and HYPREP to stop the deceit and implement  the emergency measures, including provision of potable water, building of livelihood measures, construction of the centre of excellence, and the Integrated Contaminated Soil Management Centre (ICSMC), before the clean-up, as recommended by the UNEP report.

    He said: “As we are gathered here, the verdict on Ogoni land by the UNEP environmental assessment has not changed. Recent visits to the communities indicate that Ogoniland remains a wrecked environment and environmental disaster zone; in spite of efforts made towards the clean-up. Till date, contrary to popular belief, not a drop of oil has been cleaned.

    “The multiple claims that contractors have mobilised to site and that clean-up has commenced is false and there is no visible sign of contractors on sites  going by reports from our independent field monitors who are closely monitoring the process and were there this week.” he said.

    Speaking on activities of HYPREP, he said: “The report finds monumental deviation that has eroded public confidence and will likely compromise the quality of the clean-up process. Hence we request HYPREP to stick to the concrete recommendations relating to the clean-up process, as this report is of interest to critical stakeholder in the Ogoni clean-up.”

    Providing useful tips on the way forward the activist said: “The Federal Government should comply with UNEP recommendation on emergency measures to provide the Ogoni communities water for drinking and other uses. In the short term, the Port Harcourt water corporation should play its statutory role of ensuring every citizen of the state has equal access to safe, adequate and reliable water supply.”

    “HYPREP should stop so much talk show and begin to implement the serious issue of water provision for the people of the area who are till now consuming the same polluted water heavily contaminated with cancer-causing metal such as benzene which that kills slowly.

  • The problem with Ogoni clean-up, by ex-MD

    Former Managing Director, Treasure Energy Limited, Rivers State owned Oil and Gas Company, and former Manager in Shell, Eddie Wikina, has queried the Federal Government’s sincerity in implementing the clean-up in Ogoniland.

    Wikina observed the contracts awarded had less than one per cent Ogoni content, wondering how the exercise that involves the whole of Ogoniland would have little or no indigenous participation in its implementation.

    Speaking with The Nation on telephone, he noted that the Federal Government through its agency, the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), had handed over about four of the polluted sites to the contractors that won them.

    “But to be honest, there’s a lot of suspicion by the Ogoni people about what the government is doing, but then when you talk to the people in the HYPREP, they will tell you that things are going according to plan,” he added.

    According to him, the contracts processes were hijacked by those in authority such that the owners of the land were denied the opportunity to be part of the contracts. Just a little less than one per cent of the contracts belong to Ogoni people, how do you intend to help the people to gain from the exercise, he asked, adding the idea of the whole exercise is to help the people deal with the issues of unemployment and militancy, how does the government want to achieve that, he asked.

    Wikina argued the government agency (HYPREP) even though they claimed they did a tendering exercise in choosing their contractors yet all the exercise was done by the Federal Ministry of Environment and they did not give the Ogoni people the opportunity to be part of the tendering exercise.

    According to Wikina, the project office should have been located in Port Harcourt where decisions were taken, and not in the Federal Ministry of Environment in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Again, all the contracting processes should also have been located in Port Harcourt, and tenders open in the state so that if you have any question, you  can go to the Port Harcourt office, you don’t have to go to the federal capital.

    ‘’Also there should be a clause that would specify that a minimum number of contracts should go to the people. There should be specific aspects of the contracts that should be left completely to the Ogoni people, we did that in Shell and it succeeded, he added.

    ‘’If you give some of these contracts to the Ogoni people, you would have empowered them, and created direct jobs for them and by so doing, most of the boys on the streets would be absorbed directly and get them out of the streets and that would help to reduce militancy in the area, he added.

    When you give all the jobs to outsiders in the name of business, they will come with their own group of people because they want their own people, how does that help the owners of the land the exercise is meant for, he asked.

    “How do you tell a poor contractor in Ogoni who probably wants to supply sand to go to Abuja to send contract documents, you are not being fair to him, where will he get the money from, that’s why the people are suspicious of what the government is doing,” he said.

    ‘’When you look at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report, the key things that were recommended were neglected, for example, it was recommended that the government should provide good drinking water in all the areas, they haven’t done that. The government should build a centre of excellence in Ogoniland and they have not done that, and these are the things recommended clearly written in the UNEP report’’.

    UNEP, in its report, had recommended that a Centre of Excellence for Environmental Restoration should be established in Ogoniland to promote learning in other areas impacted by oil spills in the Niger Delta. Offering  a  range  of  activities  and  services,  the  Centre  could  run  training courses in environmental monitoring and  restoration  and  ultimately  become  a  model for environmental restoration, attracting international attention.

    However, the Coordinator, HYPREP, Dr. Marvin Dekil, on telephone with The Nation, said the agency was set up following the report of the United Nations Environment Programme. According to him, the reason the UNEP was chosen to do the assessment was because the best international capacity and competence was required to carry out the assessment,  adding  the recommendations for implementation was also intended to be done by the best international hands as well as the locals.

    Dekil said the option of the international competitive bidding was applied while advertising for companies for the clean-up, adding the international option was needed because the people wanted the best hands in the exercise.

    “Another key component of the clean-up, he said, was the development of local capacity of the indigenous companies. So what that means is that the local people as well as local companies are trained to prove the competence to carry out the remediation work.

    “It means that we have to think of the best strong hands and also train more of the local companies so that subsequent bidding of the project would include more of the indigenous contractors having been trained on the skills.

    “The process that brought about the companies we are using is an international competitive process which is also provided by the Nigerian procurement Act of 2007. So, we went through a very robust and transparent process in doing the work and in selecting those companies, again, there’s a provision for training for other local companies to participate in the project”, he explained.

    He stressed a proper understanding of the process was required for the people to know  that the project was actually intended to empower and train more of the local companies, and local people in the remediation and other deliverables of the project.

    Dekil disclosed  that HYPREP was also doing training for the youths. According to him, HYPREP had also engaged the youth at different levels with regards to how they could capture the business opportunities that the project provides through training.

    He added that the agency would still  do more of such training to enable the youth and the business communities in Ogoniland understand the procurement processes as regards their own national loss and the best way they can comply and be involved more in the process.

    Meanwhile, HYPREP is a government project and the provision of the procurement law also applies, he stated.

  • UN chides Nigeria over delay in Ogoni clean-up

    The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) has chided the federal government for the long delay in actual clean-up of oil polluted Ogoniland.

    Its Executive Director, Erik Solhem, yesterday said it is time for the affected communities to witness genuine “actions on ground”.

    He lamented that for over seven years, the polluted site remained devastated despite promises from previous administrations.

    He spoke during his visit to the Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Jibril, in Abuja.

    Solhem, who emphasised the process to the remediation exercise commenced during administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, said the clean-up exercise required strong input of experts from the private sector and other international reputable development organisations.

    “I was excited with what you showed me on the map on different steps you intend to take.

    “It’s just to ensure different components are captured to step up the cleanup. The time has now come to ensure there is something on the ground.

    “Let’s be realistic. This problem started when Obasanjo was the president of Nigeria. So it’s quiet sometime the report was launched then come Goodluck, then Buhari.

    “The launch of the report is seven years back so there is need for action on ground. The people of the Niger Delta want to see physical actions on ground.

    “That’s what people want to see. They want serious actions in their lives, not just politicians like myself talk.”

    Describing the $1 billion initial commitment for the remediation exercise as huge, he noted needs for the ministry not to rely on its local capacity.

    However, the UN Chief offered to assist the federal government implement the report on the clean-up of Ogoniland through several packages it intends to share with the government.

    Solhem explained different UN agencies can come together under leadership of the federal government to expedite the remediation exercise.

    “We can make different packages of supporting you but it must come under your leadership.

    “You need to bring in people because this is $1 billion programme. That’s big.

    “To draw something up the scale of $1billion, I think you need supreme expertise from road construction, oil and gas, cement industry, huge number of people.

    “I’m sure that expertise is available in Nigeria but UN can assist because this is very different from running a programme of $1 million,” Erik added.

    The minister shared achievements of the ministry in tackling environmental issues across the six geopolitical zones in the country.

    He identified gully erosion and deforestation in the south, desertification in the North as well as issues of environmental pollution.

    However, he explained the UNEP Report has become the gospel in the Niger Delta region, stressing that anything outside the report would face serious confrontation.

    Jibril assured the UNEP Executive Director of federal government’s resolve to religiously follow up with the clean-up.

    He noted that as part of the remediation, about 600 members of the affected communities got free surgery.

     

  • Buhari directs NNPC, oil firms to release fund for Ogoni clean-up

    PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and oil companies to release fund for the clean-up of Ogoni communities.

    Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said this yesterday in the first part of an eight-part series Podcast focusing on the Niger Delta and security.

    He said the President was committed to the success of the Ogoni clean up and that his ministry is working with the Ministry of Environment to continue the exercise.

    His words: “The president is completely committed to the success of this. And we are working with the Ministry of Environment to continue the Ogoni clean up. The President has just directed that funds necessary for this must be released within a very short period of time so that this Ogoni clean up can actually move from the drawing board to actual practical reality. In fact, both the oil companies and NNPC are to fund this sufficiently for us to move forward.”

    The minister added that the ministry has begun a programme to secure the participation of Ogoni people, when there is any problem.

    The plan to make communities have faith in the government, according to the minister, was not restricted to Ogoni.

    Kachikwu said the government is working on a framework for a community-based participation in oil and gas pipelines and  assets.

    He said following realisation from inter-agencies researches that challenges were still lingering in the Niger Delta after $40 billion was spent in the region in last 15 years, the ministry is working with the Office of the Vice President and the Ministry of Niger Delta.

    Others are  Niger Delta Development Commission and the NNPC.

    The aim, he said, is to engage in more capacity building and economic empowerment.

    Kachikwu said from reports, the ministry has checked past expenditure and available funds in the Niger Delta states.

    The minister noted that technical committees have been set up in Edo, Delta and Imo states, with the governors as chairmen, to look at the volume of oil available and produced in the areas as well as the opportunities, economic empowerment and topical issues in the states.

    The committee, which has oil companies, the ministry and government agencies as members, will also carry out the assessment in other oil producing states to develop a blueprint for engagement and intervention in the region.

    “If we succeed in doing that, for the first time, what we are going to have is a complete blueprint, complete local engagement, complete intervention and supervision of the Niger Delta Development module. And that is something that can be sustained for posterity,” Kachikwu said.

    The minister added that his ministry has approved the establishment of 10 modular refineries of which two have began construction.

    Kachikwu affirmed that the two modular refineries, sited in Kwale in Delta State and Ogbere, Rivers State, will start yielding results within one year.

  • Buhari directs release of fund for Ogoni clean up

    …FG to get blue print on Niger Delta development 

     

    President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and oil companies release fund within a very short period for the clean-up of Ogoni community.

    The Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachukwu made this disclosure Wednesday in the first part of an 8-Part Series Podcast that focuses on the Niger Delta and security. 

    He insisted that the president is committed to the success of the Ogoni clean up, noting that his ministry was working with the Ministry of Environment to continue the exercise. 

    His words: “The president is completely committed to the success of this. And we are working with the Ministry of Environment to continue the Ogoni clean up. The President has just directed that funds necessary for this must be released within a very short period of time so that this Ogoni clean up can actually move from the drawing board to actual practical reality. In fact, both the oil companies and NNPC to fund this sufficiently for us to move forward.”

    The minister added that the ministry has commenced a Programme to engage Ogoni in order to secure the community buy-in and participation when there is any problem. 

    The plan to make communities have faith in the government, according to him, is not restricted to Ogoni.

    Read Also:‘Ogoni people’ll never allow resumption of oil production, without broad discussion’

    Continuing, Kachikwu said that government is currently working on a framework for a community based participation in oil and gas pipelines and oil and gas assets. 

    Following the realization from inter-agencies researches that challenges were still lingering in the Niger Delta even as over $40billion had been spent in the region in 15 years, the ministry is working with the Office of the Vice President, the Ministry of Niger Delta, Niger Delta Development Commission and the corporation to do more of capacity building and economic empowerment, he said. 

    He said that from the reports, the ministry has seen the past expenditure and what is still available in the states of the region. 

    The minister said that he has set up technical committees in Edo, Delta and Imo States that are working with the governors as the chairmen to look at the volume of oil available and produced in the states, the opportunities, economic empowerment and the burning issues in the states.

    The committee, which has oil companies, the ministry and government agencies as members according to him, will also carry out the assessment in other oil producing states in order to develop a blueprint for engagement and intervention in the region. 

    He said that “If we succeed in doing that, for the first time, what we are going to have is a complete blueprint, complete local engagement, complete intervention and supervision of the Niger Delta Development module. And that is something that can be sustained for posterity.”

    The minister said that the ministry has approved the establishment of 10 modular refineries out of which two have begun construction. Kachikwu said that the two that sited in Kwale, Delta State and Ogbere , Rivers State will start yielding results within one year. 

  • Ogoni clean-up: Board member pleads for stakeholders’ cooperation

    A member, Board of Trustees, Ogoni Clean-up Project, Mr. Nnimmo Bassey, has urged affected communities to support government’s efforts towards the project, by avoiding pollution.

    He spoke during an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Port Harcourt, after visiting polluted communities.

    The environmentalist represents non-government organisations in the 13-member board appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    He said: “New pollution can occur where people tamper with oil installations and burn crude. It can also occur where companies burn gas.

    “We cannot be cleaning up and continue to pollute; it does not make sense. So, everybody should police the environment. Life is more valuable than oil.”

    Bassey hoped that the exercise was realisable and would come to fruition.

    “I am hopeful that the Ogoni clean-up is realisable because of the demonstration work done by companies on the possibility of the project and the technology to be used.

    “They showed it can be done.

    “I believe Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) and consultants will assess the suitability of the methods, especially when they are going to be applied on a large scale.

    “The aspect handled by Shell at Bodo city indicates that with care, we can handle the clean-up. The exercise will take about 25 years,” he said.

    Bassey noted that the affected communities were anxious about the project and felt the process was slow.

    He told them that it required time and patience.

    Bassey said: “I expect the project to start on a good footing. There should be a roadmap about what HYPREP is doing.

    “We just need to understand that there are processes involved in the clean-up.”