FG assesses progress in implementation of agreement with Ogoni

Fourteen years after the launch of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report on environmental remediation in Ogoni land, stakeholders are calling on the Federal Government and oil firms to provide more funds to complete the clean-up process. 
 
UNEP, on August 4, 2011, presented its findings on Ogoni land, which revealed massive environmental degradation, following decades of extractive activities by oil multinationals led by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in the area. 
 
It also made recommendations on how to remediate the land, including livelihood programmes to be executed. Thereafter, the Federal Government set up the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) to oversee the implementation of the report and its recommendations. Despite challenges, HYPREP has made significant progress in implementing the recommendations of the UNEP report. 
 
The project has provided treated water to some communities, employed Ogoni youths, and established the Centre of Excellence for Environmental Restoration (CEER) and the Ogoni Specialist Hospital.
 
Despite appreciable gains made by HYPREP, stakeholders believe that more funding is needed to achieve the project’s objectives. A member of the task team that launched the report in 2016, Celestine Akpobari, praised the efforts of the Project Coordinator, Prof. Nenibarini Zabbey, but emphasised the need for more funding.
 
He said: “The $1 billion that was set aside for that project was for the first five years. It was a take-off grant, and money won’t be enough. Ogoni cleanup will take over $300 billion, and other parts of the Niger Delta must be cleaned, also.”

ALSO, the Federal Government has commenced assessment of its agreement’s implementation with the Ogoni people as conditions to resume oil production in Ogoni land.   The Federal Government, earlier this year, disclosed plans to resume oil production in the Ogoni oil fields. 

However, to tame the agitations and grievances in the area over years of neglect and abandonment before penetrating the land, the Federal Government set up the Ogoni Dialogue Committee (ODC) to negotiate with the people to get their demands. 
 
Town hall meetings were held in communities in the four Ogoni local councils. Part of their demands include the establishment of the Federal University of Environmental Technology in Ogoni land, which is billed to commence on October this year, the creation of Ogoni State, completion of the East-West Road, remediation and restoration of the Ogoni environment, among others.
 
However, the Federal Government, yesterday, carried out an on-the-spot evaluation of key development facilities in the agreements to ascertain progress of work.
 
The inspection, according to the committee, was part of the confidence-building measures agreed upon between the Ogoni people and the Federal Government, aimed to facilitate negotiations for the resumption of oil exploration in the area.