Business
Contractors Declare Commitment Towards Ogoni Clean-Up
Contractors selected to remediate impacted oil spill sites in Ogoniland in Rivers State have declared their readiness to effectively carry out the clean-up exercise.
The 21 contractors selected for the job made the commitment during a kick-off meeting with Hydrocarbon Remediation Pollution Project (HYPREP) in Port Harcourt, yesterday.
Speaking with newsmen on the sidelines of the meeting, one of the companies that won the bid to handle the clean-up exercise, Earthpro Unique Integrated Limited, said it was fully prepared to deliver the job according to specification.
The Managing Director of the company, Prof Babatunde Bolaji Benneth, noted that the firm was going to handle Lot 5 in Eleme Local Government Area, stressing that the company had already received a letter of the contract award for the clean-up exercise.
He indicated that arrangements have been put in place to ensure that entry into the community to carry out the exercise was smooth, adding that as soon as the site is handed over to the company on Monday, it would swing into action.
“As soon as my site is handed over to me, I will invite you to the site to see things for yourself. Like they say, the taste of the pudding is in the eating. I can’t begin to enumerate to you what we have,” he said.
Prof Benneth disclosed that the company had already carried out similar jobs in the past, stressing that the firm has technical partners in Canada, United States, Turkey and here in Nigeria, saying, “we are fully prepared. All we required is security.
“If we have safe sites, in no time, people can begin to appreciate that remediation is not rocket science. It is something that Nigerian companies can handle and efficiently too.”
HYPREP’s Head of Operations, Mr Musa Idris, explained the essence of the kick-off meeting with the contractors, stressing that it was intended to acquaint them with the standard of work expected from them.
He hinted that the handover of sites to the companies would commence on Monday, stressing that the clean-up exercise would have multiplier effects on the people of the various communities, as it would provide employment and other economic incentives to them.
By: Donatus Ebi.