Expert Blasts HYPREP Over Ogoni Environment Remediation

Hyrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) set up by the Federal Government to restore the Ogoni environment has come under serious attack by an environmental expert, Dr Franklin Tanee.
Dr. Tanee while assessing the programme during a chat with The Tide stated that the project started on a faulty premise and as such is being poorly executed.
He noted that there are things that were supposed to have been put in place to achieve the main objective.
For him, the managers of HYPREP are cutting corners and hence defeating the essence of the project, which he reasoned was supposed to be people-driven.
“ HYPREP is not sincere in the implementation of the report. For instance, the Centre of Excellence that is supposed to have been established to drive the process has not been established,” he said.
Tanee, who is the head of Plant Science and Biotechnology Department in the University of Port Harcourt further said, “they have also not included the local people because in a projecf of such magnitude the local people are supposed to be carried along.”
He blamed the current situation as partly responsible for the crisis engulfing Ogoni land today, saying that many youths and indigenes who are supposed to be engaged in the project are not.