Local and international civil society organizations (CSOs) have called for continued funding of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP).
CSOs highlighted that huge successes have been recorded in environmental remediation and community development in Ogoniland, says HYPREP publication on Friday.
This commendation came following the tour of some critical installations of HYPREP, such as the mangrove restoration project in Bomu, Center of Excellence for Environmental Remediation in Wiiyaakara, and the land and groundwater remediation project in Ogale.
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Led by more than 50 CSO members, the team witnessed a restoration of the mangrove ecosystem and the presence of aquatic life with local people now collecting periwinkles and other seafoods.
Friday Nbani, Executive Director of Lekeh Development Foundation, commended the impact of the project.
“We have seen the good works on the ground here at the Mangrove restoration site. Some of us have been here on several occasions, and we can see the changes now, particularly, the local people picking periwinkles. We will go and develop our key performance indicators, based on what we have seen, but we commend HYPREP for what is on the ground here, and the numerous livelihoods programmes are carried out,” Nbani said.
The team also complimented the Centre of Excellence and livelihood programs of HYPREP and called on the agency to maintain the standards of its programs while indicating their willingness to collaborate in manpower development and institution building.
The response from HYPREP, which was made through the Head of Environmental Remediation of the HYPREP Project Coordinator, Professor Nenibarini Zabbey, Raphael Saue, was that the agency is dedicated to meeting their mandate and has gone beyond the recommendations of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
According to Saue, the Ogoni Specialist Hospital and Ogoni Power Project are nearing completion, while the commissioning of the Buan Cottage Hospital is on the way.
In addition to this, he said that they have also supplied drinking water to over 50 Ogoni communities, and the second phase of mangrove restoration has started.
Uche Izuchukwu, the HYPREP’s Team Lead for Mangrove Restoration, disclosed that the project has helped restore over 560 hectares of shoreline and over one million five hundred thirty thousand mangrove seedlings have been planted with 90 percent survival rate.
