HYPREP Celebrates WED In Style 

The Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project(HYPREP) on Wednesday joined the rest of the world to celebrate this year’s World Environment Day in grand style.

It actually started the celebration last Saturday with the planting of mangroves at the Bomu Creek in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State.The planting of the mangroves was carried out in partnership with the Nigerian Environmental Society(NES) which massively mobilised its members to the waterfront, where the mangroves were massively planted to restore part of the degraded shoreline.

HYPREP indicated that it also carried out the exercise in conjunction with contractors who had already been mobilised to site to plant mangroves at the waterfront in keeping with its shoreline restoration programme.

At the Bomu Creek, the Project Coordinator of HYPREP, Prof Deinibarini Zabbey; the Rivers State Chairman of NES, Sir Amos Daminabo Atuloyedia; and others were all handy, as they stepped into the marshy environment, fully kitted and planted the mangroves, to the admiration of all present.

Speaking to newsmen, Zabbey said the exercise was the beginning of the 2024 World Environment Day celebration which would climax on Wednesday, June 5, the day the global event is marked annually, stressing that HYPREP was partnering with NES to plant mangroves at the waterfront to actually make the event worthwhile and colourful.

On his part, the NES boss, Sir Atuloyedia said the body was delighted to partner with HYPREP to celebrate this year’s World Environment Day, hinting that the society would also visit the Liquefied Natural Gas plant in Bonny as part of activities to mark the day, which he said would climax last Wednesday at the Hotel Presidential, Port Harcourt.

On Wednesday, the celebration of the World Environment Day took another dimension as HYPREP mobilised students from four secondary schools in Ogoniland, namely; Community Secondary School, Bomu; Community Secondary School, Barako; Community Secondary School, Mogho; and Bodo City Girls to carry out the removal of plastics at another section of the Bomu Creek, where mangroves had already sprouted.

The Project Coordinator, Prof Zabbey, the students and some HYPREP workers, who were all fully kitted, moved into the marshy landscape and weeded out plastics at the base of each of the lush mangroves.

However, before the event proper kicked off in earnest, the Head of the Livelihood Unit of HYPREP, Mrs Josephine Nzidee; Mangrove Officer, Mr Uche Izuchukwu; and Subject Matter Expert/Team Lead Mangrove, HYPREP, Prof Franklin Tanee had given the students,drawn from the environmental clubs established by the Project pep talks on what the day was all about and what they should do at the waterfront.

Addressing newsmen at the end of the removal plastics, Zabbey,who practically demonstrated leadership by example, underlined the importance of the World Environment Day celebration, describing the activity as the climax of what was started last Saturday in Bomu community.

He disclosed that HYPREP had established 20 environment clubs in Ogoniland, which it has been supporting as part of efforts to recover the biodiversity, stressing that the removal of the plastics at the mangroves was symbolic.

The Project Coordinator had earlier in a statement to celebrate the World Environment Day, noted that the theme of this year’s celebration, ‘Our Land, Our Future: Land Restoration, Desertification and Drought Resilience ‘, resonates deeply with HYPREP’s mission and ongoing efforts and achievements in Ogoniland and the wider Niger Delta region.

He said the 2024 WED provides an opportunity to reflect, design, and facilitate approaches to protect our commonwealth- land, restore degraded ones, and discourage human activities that compromise the integrity of the environment and biodiversity.

Zabbey further noted that for a region whose primary livelihood depends on fertile soil and flourishing river systems, restoring degraded environments is essential for recovering and sustaining biodiversity; improving agricultural productivity; and enhancing communities’ livelihoods, stressing that the future of the Ogonis and the wider Niger Delta depends on their land.

According to him, HYPREP is equipped with the necessary resources and strategically positioned to lead this generation to undertake this task decisively.

The Project Coordinator urged stakeholders to take definite stance to prevent oil pollution occasioned by oil theft, vandalism and artisanal refining, prioritise oil infrastructure maintenance and monitoring to protect the environment; to prevent and clean up plastic pollution that defaces and impairs land and wetlands; conduct adequate sensitisation and awareness creation to mainstream good environmental behaviours; and develop citizens’ capacity to pursue alternative and sustainable livelihoods, which would dissuade local communities from engaging in unethical acts, stressing that HYPREP reaffirms its unwavering commitment to the remediation and restoration of Ogoniland.