We’re going beyond UNEP mandate — HYPREP

The Project Coordinator (PC) of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), Professor Nenibarin Zabbey, has said that the organisation was going beyond the mandate of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which recommended the remediation of the contaminated environment in Ogoniland due to the activities of the international Oil Companies (IOCs), extracting crude oil in the locality.

Professor Zabbey, who spoke to a group of journalists on a tour of Ogoniland organised by HYPREP on Monday, disclosed that beyond the mandate of remediation and restoration as recommended by UNEP, his organisation had equally prioritised the provisions of basic infrastructures for the people of Ogoniland to make life more abundant for them.

The HYPREP boss noted that while the body would stay focus and implement the UNEP recommendation of the core-value of remediation, the body would not do that “sheepishly” but would add value to it.

“HPREP will implement the UNEP reports and recommendations but not sheepishly. We will add value to the report. Beyond the core value of remediation as recommended by UNEP, we are adding electricity, healthcare delivery services and potable water facilities.

“For instance, the HPYREP electricity project in Ogoniland is to spur economic activities in the area. What we are doing is a sustainable clean-up project and we are in conformity with the original mandate of UNEP while we are also adding values”, Zabbey assured.

He added that with the massive mangrove restoration project which he said was community-driven, Professor Zabbey disclosed that over four million mangroves had been planted with the Ogoni people encouraged and empowered to take ownership by participating fully in the project.

According to him, “HYPREP sees the Ogoni clean-up project beyond Ogoniland. What we are doing is a sustainable project for the entire Niger Delta region and the whole country at large. We are determined to ensure that what we are doing in Ogoniland will serve as a template for other areas where we have that kind of experience as Ogoni.

Professor Zabbey also pointed out that one major threat to the clean-up project is re-pollution, assuring that HYPREP was taking deliberate steps to stem that and ensure that re-pollution of the cleaned-up areas were not re-polluted

The idea of the tour, he noted, was to allow the story of HYPREP and its modest achievements to be experienced by independent minds who would thereafter be advocates of the clean-up exercise and “tell our stories to the outside world.

On day one of the tour, the journalists were taken to the massive N40 billion Centre of Excellence for Environmental Restoration in Wilyaakara, Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State. The edifice, sitting on a 28-hectare of land, is expected to be completed by September 2025.

Other HYPREP projects and facilities visited include the 100-bed Ogoni S at Kpite, Tai Local Government Area, the 40-bed cottage hospital at Buan, both due for completion in September; and the Korghor/Gio and Barako water schemes.