In a bid to give fresh impetus and momentum to its activities in Ogoniland, the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) has taken steps to involve and engage a wide spectrum of youths to drive the clean-up project and other interventionist measures in the four Ogoni local government areas of Rivers State.
To this end, HYPREP on Friday organised an interactive session with Ogoni youths drawn from the four local government areas of Eleme, Tai, Khana and Gokana at Autograph Event Centre in Port Harcourt, where a wide range of issues concerning Ogoniland were deliberated upon.
This is even as the interventionist body has indicated its preparedness to commence remediation work on more complex impacted sites in the area.
HYPREP Project Coordinator, Dr Ferdinand Giadom, who dropped this hint while briefing the youths on his scorecard within the past 90 days in office said the process for the remediation of the complex sites has started, adding that in a few weeks from now, work would commence.
According to him, HYPREP has already carried out a study and this is the time for work to start.
He said the project has also identified a well water in Korokoro Tai containing a high level of crude contaminant which it must remove.
He said the Bodo clean-up model would be deployed in remediating the more complex sites, which he said have clearly exposed the people to greater risks all these years.
“We have a model that is working in Bodo. The Bodo project is working. We have already mapped out shoreline areas in Ogoniland. We can just lift the Bodo model and mount it in other Ogoni communities”, he said.
While appealing to the youths and the rest of Ogoni people for patience and support, the project coordinator noted that the clean-up of the more complex sites would take some time, up to two or more years to be completed, “ because we want to do it right.”
Giadom regretted the delays being experienced in the full implementation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Report, and took responsibility for the shortcomings, being the current helmsman of HYPREP, and acknowledged the fact that it took a long time to migrate from the clean-up of less complex sites to the more complex sites.
The project coordinator further hinted that HYPREP is going beyond the UNEP recommendations in the provision of potable water and livelihoods to the Ogoni people, contending that this is geared towards improving the general wellbeing of the people, who he noted had suffered for several years following the devastation of their environment and livelihoods, with some of the people paying with their blood.
He indicated that the degradation of the environment and the concomitant destruction of the people’s livelihoods had exposed them to hunger and extreme poverty, a situation which he said HYPREP, with the support of the Federal Government was trying to address.
The project coordinator disclosed that HYPREP is on the verge of training 100 Ogoni youths as aviators, who would work in the aviation sector, as air traffic controllers, hostesses, among others, while several others would be trained as seafarers to fit into the maritime sector.
Giadom said the plan to link Ogoni communities to the national grid was on course, contending that when fully realised, it would provide employment to the people.
He also noted that the ongoing six water projects in the area would become functional soon, stressing that HYPREP has gone the extra mile to ensure that potable water is supplied not only to impacted communities but also to other Ogoni communities.
Giadom equally assured that female Ogoni youths and entertainers would be carried along in the scheme of affairs even as HYPREP would consider awarding of foreign scholarships to deserving Ogoni sons and daughters in due course.
He said the design for the construction of a Centre of Excellence in Ogoniland was out, as the process for the commencement of work on the project was being handled, and solicited for synergy and cooperation.
On his part, the Head of Stakeholders Engagement Unit of HYPREP, Mr. Enuolare Mba-Nwigor thanked the participants for the success of the event, saying, it is the beginning of better things to come.

By: Donatus Ebi