Ogoni: Red tape, conflicting interests impeding cleanup

• Government Appoints Governing Council, Board of Trustees
Excessive bureaucratic huddles could be hindering the speedy implementation of the United Nations Environment Programmes (UNEP) report on Ogoniland.This is just as President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the composition of the Governing Council and Board of Trustees (BOT), to oversee the implementation of the UNEP Report on the cleanup of Ogoniland in Rivers State.

The Governing Council, which is made up of 13 members alongside the 10-member BOT, provides a governance structure that ensures inclusiveness, accountability, transparency and sustainability of the cleanup exercise.

According to the Minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed, who disclosed this in a statement to The Guardian, President Buhari has also approved the inauguration of the members that are to be communicated in the near future.

“My team at Federal Ministry of Environment is actively working collaboratively with Ministries of Petroleum Resources, Niger Delta, NDDC and key stakeholders, to see that the promise of Mr. President is kept and we stay clean after the cleanup,” she added.

The minister noted that the cleanup operation as contained in the UNEP report, could be the “most wide-ranging and long term oil cleanup exercise” aimed at restoring drinking water, soil, creeks and important ecosystems such as mangroves.

Neanwhile, The Guardian checks revealed that one of the reasons why the cleanup is yet to commence is the delay by the four committees on Training and livelihood, emergence measures, community consultation and communication, and centre for excellence to submit their reports to the minister of environment.

Sources in Ogoni told The Guardian that the committee for the centre of excellence has been scouting for a suitable site in Tai, Eleme, Gokana and Khana Local Government councils, where the centre would be built, stressing that the committee’s report might be delayed further due to contending interests in the four Ogoni local government areas who want the centre to be located within their domain.