Federal Government, on Wednesday, said it concluded plans to commence the clean-up of contaminated areas in Ogoniland without the approved United Nation Environment Programme’s (UNEP) recommendations and guidelines due to recent developments in the area.
The Project Coordinator of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), Dr Marvin Dekil, made the clarification during a town hall meeting with key stakeholders in Saakpenwa, Tai Local Government Area.
In the report which would have served as the guidelines for the cleanup, UNEP advised the FG to commence the cleanup exercise with the provision of potable water, healthcare and other emergency services for the people of the area before the clean-up proper.
Explaining why it decided to jettison the recommended guidelines, Dekil explained that the decision to start with the clean-up, as well as the adoption of newer strategies, was taken because the implementation of the project started eight years after the release of the UNEP report.
According to him: “We adopted a new strategy as we were eight years late (in the clean-up exercise). The UNEP Report was released in 2011; hence the adoption of a new strategy.
“In 2011, UNEP said: as an emergency measure, provide water, but this was not done. So, having lost eight years, everything now became an emergency; meaning we must do everything simultaneously.”
He noted that under the new regime, all aspects of the recommendations were now being treated as emergency measures rather than implementing in any particular order.
According to him, the clean-up of the oil-impacted communities together with the provision of potable water and setting up of the Integrated Soil Contamination Management Centre, among others, were being addressed simultaneously.
“We have started (clean-up) with the less complex sites because the site’s remediation will not require the Integrated Soil Contamination Management Centre.
“Plans are underway for the setting up of the centre. Also, the process for the provision of World Health Organisation standard water has reached an advanced stage.
“HYPREP, in collaboration with the Rivers State Ministry of Water Resources, had commenced assessment of existing water facilities in Ogoniland as well as mapping for the installation of new water facilities,”.
He, however, assured the people that the agency would carry out the clean-up exercise in line with the UNEP Report and international best practice.
In his remarks, Chairman, Supreme Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers, HRM King Godwin Gininwa, urged HYPREP to speed up the pace of the remediation project.
He called on HYPREP to adopt a process where indigent Ogonis would partake in the project.
“I fought to ensure the clean-up project comes into fruition. So, I will continue to be a father to HYPREP because I do not want it to fail,” he said.
