Youths attack HYPREP as hardship ravages Ogoni communities

By Brave Dickson

Youths under the aegis of the National Youth Council of Ogoni People (NYCOP) have verbally attacked the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) for not providing food palliatives to communities most ravaged by hardship in Ogoni.

The increasing level of hardship in some communities in Ogoniland is attributed to the lockdown directive by the Rivers State Government as part of measures to halt the spread of COVID-19 in the state.

The National President of NYCOP, Dr. Young Nkpah who dropped the hint during a chat with our correspondent said they had written severally to HYPREP to provide palliatives to Ogonis, adding that the agency had blatantly refused to do the needful.

The youth leader said: “We have written severally to HYPREP, yet the agency is not interested in providing palliatives to the Ogoni people.

“HYPREP as an interventionist agency in charge of the Ogoni cleanup is supposed to provide palliatives to the people without waiting for us to request as part of its corporate social responsibilities.”

He also called on governments and Ogoni leaders to come to the aid of the people, saying that if nothing is done now to cushion the hardship in the land, it could lead to revolution.

“We call on governments to provide palliatives to the Ogoni people because if they are not in place, it can call for a revolution.

“We are also calling on the leaders from our ethnicity to support so as to help alleviate the hardship caused by the lockdown, “Dr. Nkpah noted.