By: Emmanuel Nlewedum
A fresh charge has been given to the Federal Government of Nigeria to expedite action on the ongoing clean-up of Ogoniland by adhering strictly to the recommendations of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report.
The charge was made by The Cable Newspaper Journalism Foundation during a town hall meeting at Mogho, Gokana local government council in Rivers State.
Senior Programmes Manager of the Foundation, Abiose Adams, who spoke while presenting a summary report on Ogoni social, climate change, environmental clean-up issues and the Ogoni struggle put together by the Cable Newspaper Foundation in collaboration with Bertha Foundation said immediate action on the cleanup would send a strong signal to the world that government was serious with the remediation project.
Adams stressed that the meeting was aimed at amplifying the voices of the Ogoni people, demanding for environmental restoration and livelihood of the Ogonis as well as provision of emergency measures for the oil impacted communities in Ogoniland.
“I am urging the federal government to expedite action on the clean-up process, as to deliver justice to the communities and entire Ogoni people.
“Ogoni clean-up is about remediation and restoration. So, that’s the justice for the pollution they have suffered.
“By amplifying the Ogoni voices, we want to stir up the government to hasten their response and expediting their actions”.
In their separate remarks, Paramount Ruler of Mogho Community, Chief Stephen Kpea and Chairman, Bodo Council of Chiefs, Chief Emma Pii lamented that the clean-up process is not being implemented according to the UNEP Report recommendation.
They said the report states that the clean-up process should commence from provision of emergency measures which includes provision of portable drinking water, healthcare, alternative livelihood for the people and building of centre of excellence and integrated contaminated soil management centre which according to them are all not in place, “but HYPREP have commenced the clean-up”.
Also, Executive Director, Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre, Fyneface Dumnamene and former youth leader in Mogho, Gbiga Monday Mene said both the government and HYPREP was not carrying out the clean-up based on the UNEP Report.
“The federal government should strengthen the process of carrying out the environmental clean-up in Ogoniland according to UNEP recommendation, they should build capacity of the people to participate in the clean-up and ensure the process is fast-tracked to restore the livelihood of the people the way it was before oil exploration started here.
“They should also address the livelihood issues of youths involved in artisonal refining so that they don’t continue polluting the environment while the clean-up is going on.
“10 million dollars is inside the UNEP Report provision bare. As we speak, HYPREP has enough money to provide that for them. They have over 360 million dollars in their coffers.
Dumnamene also described the recently flagged off water project in the area as a “mere media show”, regretting that months after, work is yet to commence on site.
“When they flagged off water project as part of the N6.4bn for water in Ogoniland, I said for the fact that they flagged it off in 2021, the tendency that our people will not have water in 2022 is there. What they were doing was just media show. Have you seen anybody onsite? Nobody is on site so the people are still without water and the environment is still polluted”.
In his position, Chairman, House Committee on Environment and member representing Gokana constituency at the Rivers State House of Assembly, Dumle Maol, represented by Mon Ledibabari commended the Federal Government for putting HYPREP in place for clean-up of Ogoniland, insisting that the institution requires legislative back up.
“The problem we have in Nigeria today is continuity, not continuing or carrying on with projects of previous administration.
“So we are in a very serious and precarious situation because by tomorrow, any government can come and say due to so so and so, we can not prioritize the issue of this Ogoni environment because we are facing other areas.
“It’s is proper for this advocacy to advocate for proper legislative backup of HYPREP, where they will be channeled through the rightful procedure and the National Assembly will implement or legislate that HYPREP should be legalized and be made a proper institution in Nigeria.
“With this in place, even if the President Buhari-led federal government passes away, it can be a sustainable program and institution in Nigeria. Therefore, the problem of environmental justice in Nigeria would be continuously implemented”.
