UNEP Report: Stakeholders Take Stock, Score HYPREP High

Some Ogoni stakeholders have taken stock of the Ogoni cleanup project 14 years after the release of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Report on Ogoniland, saying, it has been a worthwhile journey with the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project ( HYPREP) fully implementing the recommendations of the report, even beyond their wildest dreams and expectations.

They are delighted that what is going on in Ogoniland today is a culmination of the Ogoni struggle, which has yielded tremendous gains, visible in all nooks and crannies of Ogoniland, with HYPREP at the driver’s seat.

The stakeholders, who aired their views on the celebration of the 14th anniversary of the release of the UNEP Report in separate interviews with newsmen in Port Harcourt, scored HYPREP high on the implementation of the report, within the context of its core thematic areas, including environmental remediation, livelihood restoration, provision of potable water and health interventions, among others.

Beyond this, they are happy that HYPREP has even gone the extra mile by constructing the Centre of Excellence for Environmental Restoration, the Ogoni Specialist Hospital, Buan Cottage Hospital and the Ogoni Power Project.

For one of the stakeholders and former member of HYPREP’s Governing Council, Mr Celestine Akpobari, the cleanup project that started like a child learning how to walk, has today grown in leaps and bounds with remarkable milestones like the Centre of Excellence for Environmental Restoration, the Ogoni Specialist Hospital, water projects scattered here and there, scholarships for the youths, and the mangrove restoration efforts that have seen the gradual return of fishes, periwinkles and oysters in Ogoni mangroves and rivers.

According to him, the Project Coordinator of HYPREP, Prof Nenibarini Zabbey has taken the cleanup project to another level.

“I cannot wait to see foreigners troop into Ogoni to make proper use of the Centre of Excellence,” he intoned, stressing that he is full of appreciation for all the staff of HYPREP for the giant strides recorded so far.

Akpobari, however, appealed to the Project Coordinator to ensure that the assessment of other polluted sites in other parts of the Niger Delta is kick-started because, according to him, Ogoni cannot be clean until other parts of the Niger Delta are clean.

He also called on human rights bodies and activists to prevail on the Federal Government and oil companies that polluted Ogoniland to put more money into the purse of HYPREP, as the S1billion take-off grant has been depleted and, therefore, not enough to thoroughly clean up the area.

He said cleaning Ogoniland would take over S300billion.

On his part, former President of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People(MOSOP), Mr Legborsi Pygbara, said the UNEP Report was a watershed in providing a reliable scientific evidence for the ecological war that went on in Ogoni for onwards of four decades, in which animals, plants, water systems and the entire environment were destroyed, as a result of the rapacious environmental degradation of Ogoniland that happened because of the activities of multinational oil companies led by the Shell Petroleum Development Company and Chevron.

According to him, the assessment of oil impacted sites in Ogoniland was as a result of the courageous engagement of the Ogoni people with the Nigerian State and the oil industry, which climaxed in the invitation extended to UNEP to carry out the assessment.

He noted that the report is a testament of the resilience of the Ogoni people to confront what they saw at that time as a total annihilation of their environment, saying, the 14th anniversary of the UNEP Report today marks the celebration of the resilience, courage, persistence and commitment of a dispossessed and oppressed people to challenge those they considered as the oppressors of their destiny and future.

According to him, today, the UNEP Report is celebrated as one of the biggest reports that have come out of UNEP since its existence.

“Today is a celebration of the resilience, the persistence, the courage, the commitment and vision of a people who remained committed to the goal of achieving a better environment despite how their environment had been destroyed,” he said.

Pygbara noted that 14 years after the release of the UNEP Report, the story of Ogoniland has changed, as it is no longer an era of bitter cries but that of laughter and relief, “to celebrate that at some point in our history, we were able to say, enough is enough.”

He expressed delight that HYPREP has sustained the tempo of fully implementing the recommendations of the report to the extent that hundreds of Ogoni people are meaningfully engaged at its remediation sites and employed at its corporate office, saying, 14 years after, there are indeed remarkable achievements.

He said today, several Ogoni youths have been trained as scientists; Ogoni has demonstrated best expertise in terms of environmental management and governance; water projects are all over the place; mangroves are being cleaned; and manpower development has improved.

According to him, looking back, what HYPREP is doing in Ogoniland today is a fulfilment of the request in the Ogoni Bill of Rights that demanded the stoppage of the environmental degradation of Ogoniland.

The Executive Director of the Resolate Advocacy Foundation for Youth Empowerment and Citizens Initiative, Comrade Menele Nzidee said the implementation of the UNEP Report is on course, 14 years after its release, and commended the Project Coordinator of HYPREP, Prof Nenibarini Zabbey for efficiently piloting and driving the cleanup project.

According to him, the restoration of the livelihoods of the people has lifted the Ogoni people from their zero level of poverty.

The Director General of Ogoni Democratic Link also scored HYPREP high in the area of potable water supply, electricity, granting of scholarships to Ogoni youths, and construction of hospitals, among others, assuring the people that getting to the promised land which is their collective goal and aspiration would be attained.

He said the Project Coordinator needs the collaboration, support and prayers of all and sundry to keep on doing the good works.

The former Deputy National President of the Nigeria Civil Service Union(NCSU) described HYPREP as “our struggle, our brainchild and the product of our endeavour”, that must be nurtured, cherished and protected, and admonished the Ogoni youths who are the greatest beneficiaries of all that HYPREP is doing in Ogoniland to jealously guard the cleanup project.