Focus on remediation, not Cassava Plant, MOSOP tells HYPREP

By Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi

The Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) has called on the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Programme (HYPREP) to concentrate more on the remediation of Ogoni Land devastated by pollution caused by years of oil exploration, rather than establishing cassava plants.

Speaking with TPCN today via a phone chat, factional president of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke, said although the cassava plant may be a bit useful for the people of Ogoni, it would neither restore their livelihood nor address their economic deprivation and impoverishment caused by years of oil spill.

According to him, implementation of the recommendations by UNEP on oil spill clean-up in Ogoni Land should have been the primary focus of HYPREP as that would impact on the people of the area more positively.

“As a representative of MOSOP, I don’t think it’s what we want now. Although it (the cassava processing plant) will have an impact in some way, it’s not the type of intervention we want. Over 1 million people in Ogoni were deprived of their livelihood as a result of oil spill pollution caused by oil exploration. So we need a more comprehensive intervention. HYPREP should focus on remediation,” he said.

Speaking further on what he thinks HYPREP and the federal government should do in line with the expectations of his people, Fegalo Nsuke said: “We also felt that HYPREP should have dealt with the issues of compensation and integrated water project as recommended by UNEP. We expected HYPREP to liaise with other agencies and the Rivers State Government to provide the integrated water project. They should also liaise with us to know what we want.”

Justifying his call for the full implementation of UNEP’s recommendations, the former Public Relations Officer of MOSOP explained that Ogoni people had contributed so much to the growth of Nigeria’s economy as an oil-producing area, adding that part of those resources should be used to develop their area.

“We are a big contributor to the national economy. We have contributed so much over the years. So we expect that they should use part of our resources to impact on our people,” he said.

UNEP had, during the tenure of President Goodluck Jonathan, released its report on the oil spill pollution of Ogoni Land and had made a lot of recommendations on how the menace would be tackled. It also found SPDC culpable over the oil spill pollution and had asked the company to collaborate with the Nigerian government to clean-up the spill.

HYPREP is the federal government agency saddled with the responsibility of carrying out the clean-up exercise.