Youths laud minister, HYPREP for linking Ogoniland to national grid

Ogoni Youth Federation (OYF) has expressed joy over the linking of Ogoniland to the national grid and the building of a specialist hospital in the area.

OYF, an umbrella of youth organisations in Ogoniland, lauded the Minister of Environment, Abdullahi Mohammed, and the Project Coordinator of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), Dr. Ferdinand Giadom, for their efforts towards the projects. 

Recall that Ogoni communities had complained of inadequate health facilities and epileptic power supply, 11 years after the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report was released.

Speaking on the development, yesterday, in Port Harcourt, President-General of OYF,  Legborsi Yamaabana, said the  decision to link Ogoni land to the national grid would  bring  development to the area, adding that  the resolve to also ensure success of the cleanup by  overhauling HYPREP to meet up timelines set for delivery of the project was apt.
 
The youth president said: “Ogoni youths are happy with the way, manner and direction the Minister of Environment and the Project Coordinator of HYPREP are steering the ship of the cleanup project.”

“Whilst we are not holding brief for HYPREP or Ministry of Environment, for the records, we wish to state that certain individuals, disparaging the minister and pretending to be fighting for the Ogoni, are not fighting the Ogoni course but are collecting money from unsuspecting firms and promising to secure them HYPREP contracts in return.

“However, when the firms they took money from started requesting for refund, and when the perpetrators noticed that the minister is a man of due process, who cannot be bullied and who is not ready to cut corners or award contracts anyhow, they passed a vote of no confidence on him as a strategy to blackmail him and get what they want.” He urged Ogoni people to support the Ministry of Environment and HYPREP to deliver the Ogoni cleanup project in record time.