Gladys Nweke
As part of sensitization to the public and the people of Ogoni in general on the progress of the clean-up exercise, the project the coordinator of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project, HYPREP, Dr Marvin Dekil has said the agency had done much.
Dr Dekil who cleared the air in a chat with our correspondent after much argument that nothing is happening in Ogoni land as regards to the clean up, said, “as I speak to you, the companies are on the sites where works are going on, and most journalists in Rivers State have gone with us to those sites to cover our events.
“They see works going on so we can even invite you to the sites, for you to see things for yourself and help enlighten the public about what you see on sites too.
“You know we started this project when people thought it was political, so they believed that all we were doing was purely political, which led to the doubt.
“But then politics has come and gone, and we are still on sites, and someone is always saying it’s a scam? How is it a scam when you are seeing real contractors on sites carrying out remediation works?
“How is it a scam when we have just trained 21 Ogoni scientists working with us in Geneva? We have trained another set of Ogoni people on livelihoods, on each of those sites we have over 35 Ogoni youths working with our companies and over 700 Ogoni indigenes currently earning a living every day on our 21 sites and you still call that a scam?
” I think we need to get real and appreciate the government for what they have done in Ogoniland, it’s the first time any government has initiated a remediation project in any part of the country, and they’re starting it in Ogoni.
“It’s so important that what we’re doing in Ogoniland is the template that will run across other communities in the Niger Delta. Clean-Up of Ogoniland is the beginning of the clean up of the entire Niger Delta.
