Due to the quest to restore the livelihoods of people affected by oil spill and general pollution in Ogoniland, the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) has assured Ogoni people that it would soon commence the training of women and youths in the impacted communities.
The Project Coordinator of HYPREP, Dr Marvin Dekil, who gave the assurance during a sensitisation programme at the palaces of some traditional rulers in Ogoniland said the Federal Government had given the agency the approval and mandate to provide skills to women and youths in the area.
Dekil stated that as a way of restoring the livelihoods of Ogoni people, HYPREP has outlined strategies of carrying out skills acquisition programmes in impacted communities in Ogoniland, which he said would ultimately benefit the people, and solicited the support and cooperation of the traditional rulers in that regard.
“Support this project so that your people can use their land again for agriculture and also use the water for fishing,” he pleaded.
While restating the commitment of HYPREP to fully implement the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Report on Ogoniland, Dekil said the agency was determined to empower Ogoni people, particularly women and the youths through its skills acquisition programmes.
Dekil, who led other HYPREP’s officials during the sensitisation exercise to the palaces of Gberemene Gokana, Gberemene Babbe Kingdom and Gberemene Ken-Khana Kingdom assured that the agency would take into consideration, local content in the implementation of the UNEP Report.
Speaking on behalf of the Gberemene Gokana and the Gokana Council of Chiefs, the Legal Adviser of the council, Mene G.M. Gbarage thanked the HYPREP team for the visit and noted that Gokana Local Government Area was the most polluted in the whole of Ogoniland.
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