Ogoni clean-up: HYPREP gives progress report

The Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) of the Federal Ministry of Environment has assured the people of Ogoniland in Rivers State that the Federal Government is committed to the completion of the remediation of the area even as a progress report on work done n the project.

Project coordinator of HYPREP, Dr Marvin Dekil, gave this position on the occasion of the 2018 Ogoni Day in Bori, Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State.

Dr Dekil said the following activities had been accomplished as part of the implementation process of the Ogoni clean-up exercise: Mass community sensitisation activities across all four LGAs; and demonstration of remediation technologies in Ogale, Korokoro, Kwakwa and B.Dere communities. He added that the technical demonstrations were carried out by companies at no cost to HYPREP.

Other activities include training of technical staff to increase competence on the job, signing of a Memorandum of Understanding by the Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Jubril with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) for the restoration of livelihoods in the communities, and the implementation of health outreach programme which he described as “the first step towards the health impact assessment study as recommended in the UNEP Report.”

He added that “The exercise enabled us carry out an initial public health data as well as provide healthcare servicesto the Ogoni people.”

Reports have it that the Ogoni Clean-up exercise may take up to 30 years to complete.