Kelechi Kas
Ogoni Youth Federation (OYF), a socio-cultural non-governmental umbrella organization of Ogoni youths has written to the United States’s president, Donald Trump, urging him to monitor in the ongoing cleanup in the area to avert crises in the Niger Delta Region.
The letter which was exclusively obtained by theportcitynews also had the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria; the Prime Minister of United Kingdom; the Secretary-General, United Nations; the Senate President, Federal Republic of Nigeria; and the Managing Director, Shell Petroleum Development Company in copy.
The organization which is demanding for environmental justice and affirmative action aimed at the implementation of the recommendations of the United Nations Environment Programme Report on the Ogoni Environment (2011), otherwise known as UNEP Report, said the implementation of the report goes against the assurances given by the federal government and more importantly, the very recommendations of the UNEP Report.
The letter signed by Comrade Yamaabana Legborsi, President-General of OYF read in part: “As you are aware, on 2nd June. 2016, the President and Commander-In-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Mohammadu Buhari, represented by the Vice President Prof. Yemi Osibanjo, to the excitement of our people, flagged-off the implementation of the United Nations Environment Programme Report on Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland.
“During the said flag-off event, it was stated that the implementation of the report will be done holistically and in a manner that ensures transparency, accountability, genuine partnership and proper representation of the people at the grassroots as well as guarantee job creation for young people and that Agro-allied industries required for processing agricultural produce will be put in place.
“The cleanup was flagged off in the glare of local and international press since 2016, and till now nothing practically has been done, and our people continue to die in their numbers as a result of bathing, drinking and fishing in Benzene (C6H5) and Hydrocarbon contaminated water. Also, in 2017, the then Nigeria Environment Minister Amina Mohammed, similarly at an impressive public event that was widely reported in the press did a “Ground Breaking” ceremony of the Integrated Contaminated Soil Management Centre (ISCMC) at the School-To-Land Farm in Bori, a site that is now overgrown with bush and has been earmarked for the building of Prison and Cemetery.
“More than three years after the flag-off and the laudable assurances given, we regret to state that the manner and processes for the implementation of the recommendations of the UNEP Report run completely against the assurances given by the federal government and more importantly, the very recommendations of the UNEP Report.
“In the recommendation pages of the report, the point was stressed that “while the overall environmental situation in Ogoniland needs urgent and focused attention, before cleaning up the existing pollution and restoring the environment,” UNEP identified a number of emergency public health and other fundamental measures that must be first addressed. These measures include:
i. Provision of adequate sources of drinking water to Ogoni people;
ii. Posting signs, in areas where hydrocarbons were observed on surface water, warning people not to fish, swim or bathe in those areas;
iii. Ensuring that everyone who has consumed water from contaminated sources is requested to undertake a comprehensive medical examination by physicians knowledgeable about the possible adverse effects of the
hydrocarbons detected;
iv. Comprehensive decommissioning of oil facilities that fail an ‘Asset Integrity Management Plan for Ogoni;
v. Setting up of an Integrated Contaminated Soil Management Centre (ICSMC) comprising an Incinerator, Thermal Unit, Soil Washing Unit and a Contaminated Water Treatment Unit. The Centre, which should drive the cleanup, is expected to be a modern industrial enterprise in Ogoniland that would employ hundreds of jobs for people;
vi. Bringing all sources of ongoing contamination, including artisanal refining, to a swift end before the cleanup, and for that purpose, the sum of $10 million was recommended for the provision of alternative employment for those in artisanal refining.
“We consider it very sad that, as we speak, not only has nothing being done about any of these emergency measures but also the national and international visibility of the cleanup has been fraudulently exploited to score cheap political points at every opportunity.
“Rather than commencing the implementation of the UNEP recommendations with the proposed emergency measures, what we have come to observe, and much to our chagrin, is that after the release of each tranche of funds by the International Oil Companies on the cleanup project, the expenditure pattern has not only been fraudulent and opaque but is completely variance with the UNEP recommendations.
“After the first announced release of the sum of $10million by the International Oil Companies (IOCs), there were cases of financial misappropriation and diversion which prompted the Ogoni Youths through the Ogoni Youth Federation to institute a legal action against the Federal Ministry of Environment, the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) & ORS in the Federal High Court, in suit no. FHC/PHC/122/2018, the said case is ongoing.
” A Premium Times Newspaper publication title: “INVESTIGATION: How Buhari Administration Awarded Ogoni Cleanup Contracts to Unqualified Firms”, dated 5th May, 2019 revealed that 90% of the companies awarded contracts for the Ogoni cleanup exercise have no experience whatsoever in the remediation of oil spills, the companies were set up for businesses such as poultry farming, cars sales, textile dealership and fashion, palm-oil production, building design, and road construction. We have independently carried out investigations on this effect and confirm it to be true. We have our evidence.
“The complete alienation of the Ogoni indigenous participation in the process of the cleanup appears the final nail in the Ogoni coffin and sends a dangerous signal to the World that the cleanup process is another gimmick and ploy to push the already distraught Ogoni population to economic extinction further. The managers of the cleanup, represented by the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) and its Governing Board hibernates under cover of the Federal Government and one Mr Mike Cowing who claimed to be a staff of the United Nations Environment Programme to slight the Ogoni people while giving the impression that all is well.
“We believe that the implementation of the UNEP report is to bring respite to Ogoni and alleviate the suffering of the people and not to provide an opportunity for some self-seeking individuals who are determined to truncate the cleanup process, cash in on the people and leave Ogoniland more polluted than ever.
“We have doubt over the sincerity of the Federal government to implement the Ogoni cleanup project on specification. Critical stakeholders and pundits in the Niger Delta also see the Ogoni cleanup exercise as a litmus test for the eventual cleanup of impacted sites in the region. Any act of sabotage in the process is, therefore, a disservice to humanity, and should be averted by ensuring that stipulated standards are adhered to.
“In a desperate attempt to ostensibly stem the tide of anticipated protests over the exclusion of competent indigenous contractors, the HYPREP has taken umbrage under an iII-advised decision to draft soldiers to Ogoniland apparently to provide “security services” for the cleanup and remediation project. We make bold to say that the best security that can ever be provided for any project in our community, and indeed anywhere else, is to fully involve the affected people in the implementation of the project. It is our stern believe that the decision of the HYPREP and the Federal Government to deploy Soldiers to Ogoniland is a ploy to spark off crises in the area as an excuse for a force majeure on the cleanup project.
“In the light of the foregoing, believing that the cleanup exercise is a genuine effort at addressing the age-long environmental degradation of our land, and not a mere political bill-boarding, we therefore call on the United States through your good office to exert an unwinking surveillance on the activities of HYPREP to save Ogoni from another round of crisis which is imminent and to ensure that the project is not delivered dead on arrival, as the people are already jilted and may be forced to revolt! The suffering of our people can no longer be exploited by some opportunists and experts in strategic deception whose prime interest is the seIf-appropriation of funds meant for the cleanup exercise. Please stand with the good people of Niger Delta and with us in this trying time.
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