Clean-up: Ogoni Traditional rulers pledge to work with MOSOP
Traditional rulers in Ogoniland say they will work together with the apex socio-cultural organisation of the Ogoni people, Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) for the peaceful implementation of the Ogoni clean-up.
The programme is expected to commence in January 2017.
A statement issued by Mr. Fegalo Nsuke, MOSOP’s Publicity Secretary on Sunday said the traditional rulers spoke during series of meeting with Ogoni members of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project – HYPREP governing council.
According to Nsuke, the meeting is led by the President of MOSOP, Dr. Legborsi Pyagbara.
The board of HYPREP was inaugurated in August 2016 by President Muhammadu Buhari to function as the policy making and top management organ for the implementation of the United Nations Environment Programme report on Ogoniland.
Pyagbara assured the Ogoni people that the clean-up of Ogoniland would commence within few weeks beginning with the implementation of some emergency measures which include provision of water.
He called for the cooperation of traditional rulers for peace to be sustained in Ogoniland during and after the exercise.
In their separate responses, the traditional rulers all pledged to support the exercise and called for transparency in the process.
They commended the initiative of the team to work with them and hoped that the employment generated through the clean-up implementation will help to mitigate the increasing restiveness in the area.
Nsuke quoted King Godwin Gininwa, the Gbenemene of Tai and Chairman, Supreme Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers, as pledging to support MOSOP to promote the interest of the Ogoni people.
