President Muhammadu Buahri has approved further healthcare intervention in the communities of Ogoni, Rivers State, to alleviate the suffering of residents of the area following much exposure to oil pollution.
This came as the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People, MOSOP, pleaded with the people of Ogoni ethnic nationality in Rivers State to be patient with the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project, HYPREP and the Federal Government as they work out modalities to clean up the devastated environment.
HYPREP had on Saturday flagged off an eight-day health outreach to attend to the health needs of the people of the area and obtain records which would help them in the data and analysis of ailments in the area, as contained in the United Nations Environmental report on Ogoniland.
Speaking at Taabaa community during the flag-off ceremony, Coordinator of HYPREP, Dr. Marvin Dekil, disclosed that President Buhari approved the health intervention to preserve lives in the area.
Dekil said: “The success of the outreach programme got to President Buhari who was touched by the poor condition of the Ogoni people due to the degradation of their environment by oil exploration.
“The president therefore, graciously approved another round of medical intervention to reach more people. That is the reason we are here today.
“We have brought with us medical personnel to drive the programme. We enjoin you to cooperate with them by providing your bio data. We will be in each local government area for four days. Two days for general consultations, dental and eye care, among other medical services, while the remaining two days are designated for surgical operations.”
Meanwhile, the President of MOSOP, Mr. Leborsi Pyagbara, has commended the health outreach going on in some communities of Ogoni, stressing that it will help ascertain the level of sicknesses and diseases in the area to help HYPREP in its data collation.
He said: “Yes, the health programme is timely because the UNEP report talks about the restoration of livelihood and this is part of it. It is timely because it will help HYREP in their data collation for data base on the impact of the spill in Ogoniland.”
