The lawmaker representing Eleme Constituency in the Rivers State House of Assembly, Josiah Olu has enjoined pressure groups agitating against the delayed Ogoni clean-up to be patient with the Federal Government.
Olu who is an All Progressives Congress lawmaker made the appeal in an interview with reporters on Tuesday in Port Harcourt.
He said that the Ogoni clean-up required extensive planning, scientific analysis, community involvement, and genuine partnership to achieve needed goal.
The lawmaker urged the people of Ogoni to exercise patience as the federal government strive towards implementing the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) report on Ogoniland in accordance with its framework.
According to him, the framework for the Ogoni clean-up is developed in a manner that embraces an all inclusive remediation of Ogoni land.
The lawmaker noted that although the implementation stage of the program was slow it was still ongoing in line with its original framework and should not be viewed as an abandoned project.
He said:“The issue of delay in the implementation of the UNEP report in Ogoni began with the past administration that ran for six years without any program of action to support commencement of the exercise.
“This present administration has within two years shown commitments towards implementation as it has already constituted governing bodies to take charge of the entire process,” he said.
Olu said that relevant stakeholders had shown clear commitment by creating a Governing Council and Board of Trustees of the Ogoni Restoration Fund in August 2016 to oversee and fund the clean-up.
