Ogoni cleanup, a success for Buhari’s administration – Mahmoud

The Minister of Environment, Dr Mohammad Mahmoud has assured of Federal Government’s total and complete commitment to implementing the UNEP Report on Ogoniland.

The Minister who was in Ogoniland on Friday for an on-the-spot assessment of the cleanup exercise visited various project sites at Lot 19 and 18 in Tai LGA and Lots 2 and 8 in Eleme LGA.

He said that the issue of Ogoni Cleanup has been a mirage for a very long time until the coming of President Muhammadu Buhari, who promised to Cleanup Ogoni.

“The Ogoni Cleanup has gone from mirage to reality and today we’re talking about actuality.

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“I have been to several sites, this is the last one, and we’ve seen the stages of work. From excavation to the actual treatment of the soil, and from the different depths at different places based on the level of contamination, we’ve seen it for ourselves.

“I can say, this is a big success for this administration. I can say that the HYPREP team is doing a good job. The people of Ogoni that I’ve talked to, the youths, the women, the elders, leaders, everybody, they’re happy with this and happy with Mr President for actually keeping his promise to Cleanup Ogoni.

“This is something that is serious right from the start where we even had UNEP to do the assessment and following the report of that assessment to the letter. This shows the commitment of the government, the commitment of the President, and I believe every Nigerian, not just from Ogoniland, should give this project a chance.”

The minister and his team also paid a courtesy visit to the palace of King G.N.K Gininwa, Chairman Supreme Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers, where he met with the King, his Council of Chiefs, and youths of Ogoni.

King Giniwa thanked the President for implementing the UNEP Report on Ogoniland and asked that the momentum of the project be intensified and that more Ogoni contractors be carried along in the project.