The Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project(HYPREP) has restated its commitment to prioritise the welfare of its workers and the determination to continue to create jobs.
The Project Coordinator of HYPREP, Prof Nenibarini Zabbey, who gave the indication in a statement issued in Port Harcourt, felicitated with workers across the country, especially those in HYPREP’s Coordination Office and community workers at its various project sites in Ogoniland over the recent May Day celebration.
Zabbey acknowledged the immense commitment, resilience and dedication the workers have demonstrated on the Ogoni cleanup programme, which he said has contributed significantly to the milestones achieved across critical projects like the Centre of Excellence for Environmental Restoration (CEER); Ogoni Specialist Hospital; Buan Cottage Hospital; mangrove restoration sites; land and shoreline remediation sites; Ogoni Power Project; and water projects.
He noted that HYPREP is mindful of the benefit of creating a safe and productive work environment that engenders job satisfaction and self-attainment in the public interest, stressing that the Project places premium on workers’ welfare and continuous human capacity development in its Project Coordination Office and at its project sites.
He said HYPREP has through its numerous projects across Ogoniland created over 7,000 direct and indirect jobs, and helped develop skills and capacities of youth and women, especially in environmental remediation, saying, “By this, we are tackling unemployment and its attendant effects, fundamentally improving local economies, and positively impacting the Human Development Index(HDI).
The Project Coordinator explained that this year, through the dedication of its staff and community workers, HYPREP is working assiduously to ensure the timely completion and commissioning of various ongoing projects, including the Centre of Excellence, Ogoni Specialist Hospital, Buan Cottage Hospital, the Ogoni Power Project, and additional water projects.
While thanking the workers for their dedication to service, Zabbey said HYPREP is pleased to note that commissioning the various ongoing projects would create more jobs, thereby addressing unemployment in the region.
He indicated that HYPREP will continue to create jobs at its project sites through various skill acquisition and employability enhancement training, and congratulated all the workers, urging them to continue to be patriotic and committed to playing their noble roles, especially towards the collective vision to fully actualising the successful implementation of the Ogoni cleanup programme.

By: Donatus Ebi

Some indigenes and Residents of Eleme local Government Area of Rivers state have  hailed the Administrator of the council, Dr Gloria Obo Dibiah for the complete evacuation of refuse from the area in less than two months in office.
The residents who said this in an interview with newsmen at Eleme said the heaps of refuse around Eleme were becoming sources of concern to them.
They however commended Dr Dibiah for listening to the cries of the people, adding that in less than two months in office, all the refuse heaps in and around the local government area have been evacuated.
Speaking with newsmen a community leader in Onne  Chief Nchima Blessing Okasi praised the Administrator for living up to the expectations of the people of not only Onne but the entire Eleme local government area.
Chief Okasi  particularly said the refuse heaps at Allejor community, Onne, which evacuated was completely ignored by both companies operating in the area and previous administrations in Eleme Local Government Area.
“I want to sincerely thank the administrator for taking the pains to come and remove this rubbish.
“Before now, we applied to some companies operating around Onne to come in and remove it but unfortunately they have been giving unnecessary excuses.
“But today I was surprised when I got a call that the sole administrator is already here to evacuate it,” he said.
Also speaking Madam Mercy Ebu said businesses around Onne and other parts of Eleme were being affected by the number of refuse heaps in the area.
She said the situation was also affecting the health of the people following the increase in malaria parasite in the area.
On her part, Mrs Abigail who hails from Ogoni but resident in Eleme said Dr Gloria Obo Dibia has saved the area from epidemic as people could not sleep at night following constant odour oozing from refuse heaps in the area.
Speaking in an interview with newsmen while monitoring the evaluation of the refuse, the administrator of Eleme local government Area, Dr Gloria Obo Dibiah said the vision of her administration was for a green Eleme.
She said all the refuse heaps have been very hazardous not only to Eleme but also to those who pass through the area.
Dibiah further said that the programme was in line with the vision of the Rivers state Sole Administrator, IbokEteIbas ( rtd) who has directed Local Government Administrators to focus on sanitation, health care and security.
“If you look at the heaps behind me, you can tell that this has been here for quite a while and we know it’s been very hazardous.”

Nigerian Army troops under Operation Hadin Kai have recorded another success in their intensified campaign against insurgency, with the neutralisation of five Boko Haram fighters during a clearance operation in the Ladin Buttu axis of the Sambisa Forest.
The operation, which took place during a recent patrol mission, forms part of the ongoing recalibrated offensive aimed at rooting out remnants of terrorist groups from their last strongholds. Ladin Buttu, located deep within Sambisa Forest, has long served as a strategic transit and logistics hub for insurgents due to its access to water and concealment advantages.
Military sources told Zagazola Makama that the troops encountered the terrorists during a routine clearance operation and engaged them in a fierce gun duel. At the end of the firefight, five insurgents were confirmed killed, while several others fled the scene with varying degrees of gunshot wounds.
In addition to neutralising the fighters, troops recovered three AK-47 rifles, five fully loaded magazines, and other military ordnance believed to have been stockpiled for future attacks.
This latest success reinforces the Nigerian military’s renewed momentum and aggressive posture in dismantling terrorist networks operating in the northeast. It also comes in the wake of strategic directives issued by the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who recently visited the theatre and ordered intensified ground raids and expanded aerial reconnaissance missions.