A group, Ogoni Liberation Initiative (OLI), has urged the Federal Government to ensure full implementation of the United Nations Environmental Report (UNEP) report in the Ogoni region of Rivers state.
The group also urged the Federal Government to make the environmental clean-up a President Muhammadu Buhari legacy project.
Speaking at an event in Bori, Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State, President of the group, Douglas Fabeke, said he had partners who could fund the implementation of the UNEP report and only needed the Federal government’s support to invite them.
He pleaded with the Federal Government to ensure the clean-up of the polluted sites was worked on before the expiration of President Buhari’s administration.
Fabeke, who bemoaned the non-availability of potable water across Ogoni communities, criticised Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) and alleged that HYPREP had not implemented any recommendation in the UNEP report.
According to him, “UNEP uncovered that families for years drank from wells contaminated with benzene – a known carcinogen-at levels over 900 times above World Health Organisation guidelines.
“For decades, our people have, irrespective of being major contributors in oil production in Nigeria since 1958, remained the proverbial goose that lays the golden egg. All we have to show for decades of oil exploration and exploitation activities here is a devastated environment.
“Our traditional occupation of fishing and farming are fast going extinct. But, we are here today to change this horrible history about our people.
