Getting serious about Ogoni clean-up

Last week, the Minister of State for Environment, Mr. Ibrahim Jibril, said that the sum of $177 million had been raised for the Ogoni clean-up project in the Niger Delta.

According to him, this was the required contribution from the oil majors. Addressing a press conference, the minister said: “The board of trustees have opened an account and that [Ogoni clean-up] account has been credited with the sum of $177 million.

This is what is supposed to be given by the oil majors who are there and to pay for the cleaning and restoration of those degraded lands. An initial bill of $1 billion was to be used over a period of five years. So, with the $177 million for 2018, the balance of $23 million is expected to come from the refineries. We have written to inform the president and he has given the directive that the Petroleum Ministry should handle that issue.

So, I believe that before the end of the month, we should raise the remittance of the balance of $23 million that is supposed to make it $200 million for this year.”

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In a similar vein, the United Kingdom pledged to partner with the Federal Government in its efforts to clean up the Ogoni area of Rivers State and address other environmental challenges across the country. This pledge towards Ogoni clean-up was conveyed by Ms. Lavie Beaufils, the British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, during a courtesy visit to Jibril at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

But it can only be hoped that the government is serious about the project this time around. It will be recalled that in June 2016, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo launched the clean-up of Ogoniland with fanfare at Bodo, Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State. However, the launching amounted to no more than a verbal exercise and, by November 2016, the Federal Government was still trying to rationalise the delay in the commencement of the exercise.

Speaking at the 10th anniversary of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) in Abuja, the then Minister of Environment, Mrs. Amina Mohammed, claimed that every arrangement concerning the project had been perfected, including the issue of funding.  As she noted: “Talking about the Ogoni spill, all resources have been made available and the money has been released.

But if you do not have structures in place, the money will go into the ground and people will not feel the impact. It is important for us to put together structures and make sure that we have a solid foundation. Who is in the office, who is the budget manager and how are they recruiting? All of these were not taken care of in the past. But this time, we believe that by the time we leave, people will see results.

It will be a continuing process and in the next few months, people will be seeing some of the issues that they had not seen.” That promise turned out to be quite hollow, even though the growing level of oil spill in facilities located on land and swamp areas, attributed by the government to ‘illegal bunkering, artificial refining, oil theft and militancy’ has remained a major problem.

Acknowledging that some incidents occurred offshore, the minister argued that with the increased interest of operators in pursuing exploration and production in the deep offshore, there was the need to step up the level of preparedness to effectively respond to the challenges that may be presented by oil spills in the marine environment.

To say the least, there is no justification for the continued degradation of Ogoniland or indeed any part of the Niger Delta. When the government ‘launched’ the clean-up project in 2016, Nigerians had expected that it would faithfully execute it in accordance with the template provided by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP).

Two years down the line, there is as yet no indication that it is interested in actualising the goals that it so enthusiastically enunciated. In this regard, we expect the government to ensure that both the $177 million raised from the oil majors and the balance of $23 million expected to come from the refineries are deployed to the project in order to give those whose lives have been adversely affected by the oil spill a new lease of life. Under no circumstances should the Ogoni clean-up project be again bogged down by the ineptitude that has come to characterise official business in this clime over the years.

Elsewhere in the world, the government would not have waited for a place like Ogoni to be virtually devastated by oil spill before taking decisive steps. Like every other part of the Niger Delta, Ogoniland has served as a cash cow for the government and should not have witnessed the kind of sad fate that has befallen it, partly on account of the unholy connections between key officials of the Federal Government and the oil majors to keep the area perpetually underdeveloped.

Underlying the Ogoni clean-up project is the key issue of reversing the criminal neglect of the people of the Niger Delta and the degradation of their ancestral heritage. This goal must not be undermined any further. The impression must not be given that business can continue as usual while Ogoniland and its people continue to inhabit a hostile environment.