Some prominent sons of Ogoniland in Rivers State have expressed reservations over the ongoing clean-up of oil spill impacted sites in the area by the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), saying, clean-up exercise is yet to meet the yearnings and expectations of the Ogoni people, following hiccups that have trailed it so far.
The Ogoni stakeholders, who bared their minds in separate interviews with newsmen during a free medical outreach organised by HYPREP in Taabaa Community in Khana Local Government Area recently said the clean-up exercise has been hampered by a number of factors.
A lecturer with the University of Port Harcourt and member of HYPREP’s Governing Council, Prof Ben Naane said he was not satisfied with the progress made so far by the agency on the clean-up exercise, essentially because of the processes involved in accessing funds for the remediation project.
He said one year after HYPREP started work, the money lodged in the Escrow Account which he noted comes in foreign currencies, to enable the agency to fast-track the project, was yet to be accessed, adding that the procurement processes, rather than facilitating HYPREP’s work had equally been a major setback.
Naane, however, indicated that both HYPREP and the Governing Council had fashioned a way out of such setbacks, as they had continued to pursue the agency’s core mandate in providing livelihoods and healthcare to the Ogoni people by relying on its own resources.
On his part, the President of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) and member HYPREP’s Governing Council, Mr Legborsi Pyaagbara said the major challenge affecting the clean-up exercise is bureaucracy, saying, he would prefer a situation where HYPREP is given a free hand to operate to enable it access funds for the remediation project with ease.
While describing the ongoing medical outreach as a welcome development, the MOSOP President appealed to Ogoni people to exercise patience to ensure that the entire remediation project becomes a huge success at the end of the day.
The Chairman of the Conference of Ogoni Traditional Rulers and Gbenemene Bua Baghua Kingdom, HRH Mene Suanu Baridam also lamented the slow pace of the clean-up project and urged the Federal Government to do more for the full implementation of the UNEP Report on Ogoniland.
The traditional ruler while commending HYPREP for the medical outreach stressed the need for provision of potable water to the people.
Meanwhile, the Project Coordinator of HYPREP, Dr Marvin Dekil has promised that remediation of impacted sites in Ogoniland would commence in a couple of months, as invitation for pre-qualification of contractors for the exercise had been advertised in some national and international dailies, assuring that the project would be handled only by experienced and best contractors to achieve the desired results.
Dekil, who dropped the hint while declaring open the second phase of the medical outreach, said HYPREP was in the process of providing potable water to Ogoniland and promised that the agency would in the coming weeks launch its livelihoods intervention programme to give new sets of skills to Ogoni women and youths.
Over 1,000 Ogonis benefited from the medical outreach in Taabaa community last Saturday.

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