The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr Richard Montgomery, has scored the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) high on the ongoing projects and various programmes being carried out by the agency in Ogoniland in Rivers State.
He said there is positive optimism that the clean-up project in the area is progressing, as it is a model that would be emulated and replicated in addressing environmental concerns in other parts of the Niger Delta.
Montgomery, who gave the indication while speaking with newsmen during a visit to HYPREP’s Project Coordination Office in Port Harcourt last Thursday, after being briefed by the Project Coordinator, Prof Nenibarini Zabbey, on the activities and achievements so far made, said the visit was to avail him the opportunity to follow up on the clean-up project.
“This is a really impressive project, a complex one. Professor Zabbey has given me an impressive briefing and I am so impressed with what you are doing. I think what is being done here is a model that we can all learn from and has significance beyond Ogoniland and the rest of the Niger Delta, but potentially in other parts of the world”, he said.
The British High Commissioner also noted that he had come to listen, learn, and understand the way the programme is being implemented and the commitment made to Ogoni people, but also from other institutions in the Federal Government and the oil companies.
According to him, his understanding is that there is a system of monitoring in place, and that is something which is the sovereign of the Nigerian government and also its relationship with communities.
“We will be following and looking to understand how the project is progressing in the coming months, in the coming years.
“Again, I want to pay tribute to Prof Zabbey’s team. They are doing a hard and good work. It is a complicated work. I come away with a good deal of positive optimism that real progress is being made and more is possible”, he said.
While commending the British High Commissioner for the visit, HYPREP’s Project Coordinator, Prof. Zabbey, noted that HYPREP is contributing to peace building and security in Ogoniland following the myriad of projects ongoing in Ogoniland, stressing that the recruitment of 500 environment vanguards to provide civil security and intelligence gathering is a deliberate measure to adopt a non-kinetic approach to protect project facilities and engendering community participation.
He further listed the ongoing projects to include the provision of potable water in Ogoniland; 39 land remediation and 34 shoreline remediation; nine mangrove restoration; 5,000 livelihoods training; the construction of the Centre of Excellence for Environmental Restoration; construction of a 100-bed Specialist Hospital; construction of the Buan cottage hospital; and the Ogoni power project.
Zabbey stressed that HYPREP is partnering with the Rivers State Government to ensure the sustainability of its projects including the potable water schemes and the 100-bed specialist hospital, adding that the Project is playing a major role in climate change mitigation and adaptation through its mangrove planting programme, one of the largest undertaken in the world and would cover over 3,000 hectares.
To encourage mangrove conservation, the Project Coordinator hinted that communities would be linked to carbon credit, positing that a fish stock assessment has been done to provide a baseline to assess post mangrove restoration and ecosystem goods and services.
Zabbey reiterated the commitment of the Federal Government to the Ogoni clean-up programme, a response to Deliverable 3 of the 18-point Deliverables of the Federal Ministry of Environment which is the accelerated implementation of the Ogoni clean-up by increasing government’s commitment and support to improve capacity building; enhance monitoring and evaluation; create public awareness as well as explore various conflict resolution mechanisms and international collaboration in Ogoniland.
He clarified that the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the technical partner on the project would be around for another six months following the extension of their engagement which elapsed in 2023, stressing that the United Nations Office for Project Services(UNOPS) would be providing support for the Project, especially in procurement but hinted that HYPREP is proposing a hybrid technical support that would also have UNEP still providing technical support given its institutional knowledge.
The British High Commissioner’s visit underscores the interest the Ogoni clean-up project is eliciting and attracting both within and outside Nigeria.
While acknowledging this fact, Zabbey assured the diplomatic community that HYPREP is in safe hands and committed to delivering sustainable clean-up and restoration of Ogoniland.

Donatus Ebi