President Muhammadu
Buhari has called on Niger Delta communities, especially the youth, to support
government’s efforts at cleaning Ogoniland.
Buhari made the call
in Abuja on Thursday while inaugurating the Board of Trustees and Governing
Council of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP) at the
Presidential Villa.
The President appealed to the communities to safeguard the
lives of the persons implementing the project.
According to him, the
inauguration of the board and council is in line with his administration’s
commitment to ensuring the implementation of the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) Report on Ogoniland and other affected sites.
“Today marks
another milestone in the commitment that this administration has made in
ensuring the implementation of the UNEP Report in Ogoniland and other affected
sites. “It is our collective responsibility to ensure that the project remains
on course, as we face the challenges of high expectations and the current
conflict in the Niger Delta. “I use this opportunity, through you, to call upon
the local communities, especially our youths, who will be the direct
beneficiaries of this effort, to work with us in ensuring the security of the
projects and persons implementing them.
“Even more so, that we prevent the
recontamination of the polluted sites in Ogoniland.”
Buhari stated that
although the UNEP Report was released five years ago, it has taken his
administration only two months to inaugurate the clean-up project in Ogoniland.
According to him, since the inauguration of the project, considerable effort
has been made to create a robust mechanism for implementing the clean-up both
in the short and long terms.
“It is exactly five years today, on Aug. 4, 2011,
the United Nations Environment Programme submitted an extensive report on the
environmental assessment of Ogoniland.
“That report, which was commissioned by
the Administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, did not only document
the problems that existed, but also contained recommendations on how they can
be addressed, both in the short term and in the long term.
“Five years on, the
project is yet to properly take off.
“It would appear to have experienced
series of false starts, while the local communities continue to suffer from the
problem, which has existed long before the report. “This all adds to the
picture described in the UNEP Report as `a landscape characterised by a lack of
trust, paralysis and blame’.”
Buhari, who said that the clean-up required
extensive planning, scientific analysis, community involvement, and genuine
partnerships, assured that the funds devoted for the project would only be used
for that purpose.
He expressed gratitude to members of the council and board
for accepting the assignment. He reminded them that the task required patience
and understanding of the key stakeholders.
The President expressed optimism
that the project would impact the lives and livelihoods of local communities,
whose environments had been severely degraded by years of unchecked pollution
from oil exploration activities. He said the clean-up is expected last two
decades.
He stated that the first five years will address emergency response
measures and remediation, while the subsequent years will witness efforts at
restoring the ecosystems in the region.
“The governance framework we lay today,
following extensive consultations, will form the bedrock for sustainability for
years to come.
“Together we will be able to transform what is today a tragic
tale of desolation and destruction to one of restoration and opportunity for
the coming generations.
“The expertise and technology to make this a reality
exist.
“In the end, this project will serve as the “gold standard” for the
clean-up of similar pollution sites in other parts of the Niger Delta, and the
world at large,’’ he said.
In his remarks, the Chairman of the Board of
Trustees of HYPREP, Mr Olawale Edun, expressed appreciation to Buhari for
giving them the opportunity to serve as members of the HYPREP council and
board. He pledged that the board would ensure efficient and judicious
management of funds set aside for the clean-up project.
“By the inauguration of
this Board of Trustees, we have the singular opportunity, working as a team,
working in conjunction with others to intervene decisively within the context
of the UNEP 2011 Report on the Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland. “This is
a rear privilege and opportunity that we intend to seize boldly with initiative
and with great determination.
“We are entrusted and we recognize the very great
responsibility we have to manage the funds that have been contributed now, and
are going to be contributed in the future. “These are significant funds and we
recognize the responsibility to manage them
efficiently, to manage them
transparently and that is exactly what we intend to do.’’ The Minister of
Environment, Amina Mohammed, who is also the Chairperson of the Governing
Council of HYPREP, assured the President that the council would be guided by
the principles of accountability, transparency and true representation. The
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that already about 1 billion dollars have
been committed to HYPREP for the next 5 years. The bulk of the funding is
coming from the Shell Petroleum Development Company Joint Venture. The
programme is a fallout from the UNEP Report.
The Federal Government had in 2009
commissioned UNEP to carry out an assessment of the devastation in the area as
a result of oil spill and come up with a report. In the report, which was
released on Aug. 4, 2011, UNEP recommended the clean-up of the area, an
exercise, which it said would span between 25 and 30 years and which would
require one billion dollars.
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