The Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), has assured persons with disabilities from the Ogoni ethnic extraction of carrying them along in the implementation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Report on the clean-up of Ogoniland.
HYPREP’s Project Coordinator, Dr. Marvin Dekil, who gave the assurance during a meeting with members of the National Association of Persons with Disabilities, Ogoni chapter in Port Harcourt recently, said engaging the physically challenged was the human face of the clean-up project.
He said HYPREP would continue to interface with members of the group with a view to incorporating them in its livelihood project so as to train some of them as well as throw open to those of them with capacity an opportunity to participate in the clean-up project.
Dekil said the meeting had provided an opportunity for HYPREP to explain to the physically challenged all that it has been doing, as “we don’t want any groups to be an obstacle to this project, especially persons with disabilities, people we can have compassion for”.
According to him, he had been able to sensitise them to understand that HYPREP was not a Ministry of Social Welfare but that it was prepared to partner with them to ensure that the quality of their lives was improved.
On his part, the President of the National Association of Persons with Disabilities in Ogoni, Comrade Ngo Baridapdoo commended the HYPREP’s Project Coordinator for taking time to explain to the members of the group the activities of the project, saying, “there is hope”.
He, however, urged HYPREP to always do the right thing in order to earn the support of the group at all times.
Meanwhile, the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), has restated its readiness to ensure that contractors handling the clean-up project in Ogoniland deliver a perfect job, stressing that the agency has the regulatory oversight mandate to monitor and certify the work done by the contractors.
Nosdra’s Zonal Director, Port Harcourt Office, Sir Cyrus Titus Nkangwung, who gave the indication while speaking with newsmen in Port Harcourt, said the agency was in serious partnership with HYPREP, and has regulatory oversight of what it is doing.
“As they have started the process, we will monitor the cleaners and ensure they clean perfectly. We will give certificates to only contractors that have properly done their work. We are going to work closely with the communities. Any contractors that do not peform well, after the result is seen, we will ask them to go back for further remediation work,” he said, assuring that NOSDRA would work with non-governmental bodies and UNEP to ensure that impacted sites are cleaned and restored.

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