FG committed to implementation of UNEP report on Ogoniland-Minister
The Minister of Environment Dr Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar has assured the people of Ogoni and indeed the world that President Muhammadu Buhari is committed to the full implementation of the recommendations in the United Nations Environmental Assessment Report on Ogoniland.
Dr Abubakar who was on a working visit to the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) and some remediation sites across Ogoniland was received on arrival by the Project Coordinator of HYPREP, Dr Marvin Barinem Dekil.
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Briefing the Minister, the Project Coordinator went through the various activities that HYPREP has carried out since inception.
He, however, informed him that a total of 21 sites have been handed over to 21 contractors who were currently at different levels of remediation works while a joint team of HYPREP and UN are in the field to carry out reconnaissance in preparation for the commencement of the remediation of the complex sites.
Dekil added that the project has provided opportunities for the training of Ogoni youths through the Livelihood Program, technical training for Scientific Officers who are all Ogonis in Nigeria and in Switzerland while arrangements for the training of 400 Ogoni women by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) has been concluded.
The Project Coordinator further informed the Minister that HYPREP had carried out two medical outreaches where 20,000 patients were treated, and 400 surgeries carried out.
He added that HYPREP was collaborating with Rivers State Ministries of Water Resources and Health for the provision of water and assessment of health facilities in the impacted communities in Ogoniland.
The Honorable Minister also paid a courtesy visit to His Royal Majesty King G. N. K. Gininwa in his palace where he informed the King that the Ogoni clean-up is a pet project of President Buhari’s administration which is why the President constantly makes reference to the Ogoni clean-up project.
He said the Ogoni clean-up is a signature project, the first of its kind in Africa and the world with no existing template but rather HYPREP was developing one that would be used hereafter for the remediation of the rest of the Niger Delta.
The Honorable Minister assured the people of Ogoni that the Federal Government was not just concerned about remediating the environment but is also concerned about the well-being and economic life of the people.
He said, “The Federal Government is aware that there are several other challenges you are facing as a result of the pollution.
That is why even though the core mandate of HYPREP is to remediate the land, other programs have been built into the Project to address some of these challenges.”
King G. N. K. Gininwa appealed to the Minister for the inclusion of the Ogonis and to ensure that the people benefit fully from the clean-up project.
The Minister also attended the sensitization of women on the Livelihood program in Tai. He expressed satisfaction with the huge turnout of women for the program adding that it goes to show the seriousness of the women to key into the training programs to create economic activities for their financial empowerment.
