The British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, Gill Atkinson, has stressed the need for the ongoing clean-up of Ogoniland in Rivers State by the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) to be carried out properly and with high standard to be able to meet the yearnings and expectations of the people of the area. ‘
Atkinson, who gave this indication while inspecting some clean-up sites in Alode Eleme Community in Eleme Local Government Area last Friday, said it was also important for Ogoni people to understand that cleaning oil spill impacted sites in the affected communities would take time.
While commending HYPREP and its Governing Council for a work well done, the British envoy said, “It is really good to see strong progress happening here and genuine implementation of the project which has taken time to plan.”
She assured that the British Government would continue to offer technical and other support to the clean-up project, but indicated that it was the right thing that International Oil Companies (lOCs) were essentially and largely funding the project. Atkinson, who said it was the first time she was visiting Rivers State, opined that the remediation work was fundamentally important to the people of Eleme and to the wider Ogoniland and expressed delight that productive work was actually going on in the area.
“The message to take home now is that this is a difficult and complex situation, but the work HYPREP is doing in conjunction with the Governing Council is fundamental to improving the situation of the people and the state of the environment here in Ogoniland,” she said.
HYPREP’s Project Coordinator, Dr. Marvin Dekil, while thanking the British Deputy High Commissioner and her team for the visit, said the British Government has provided political and technical support to the Ogoni clean-up right from the beginning of the project, stressing that “this is the first time we are bringing the British officials to site to monitor what is going on.”
He said everything HYPREP was doing was consistent with the recommendations of the United Nations Environment Project (UNEP) Report, contending that the body had gone ahead to invite UNEP officials and other stakeholders to take stock of its activities.
“It is also very important to tell the world and to tell the Ogoni people that this is an environmental remediation project. As much as we like to solve other problems, our primary focus will be to deal with environmental challenges and ensure that the contractors work according to specification within the timeline given by the project”, “he said.
Dekil advised detractors, who are criticising HYPREP and the clean-up exercise, to come to the sites and see things for themselves, adding that “HYPREP is setting the standard and developing the template for all that we need to do. The clean-up of Ogoniland is the beginning of the clean-up of the Niger Delta.”
The envoy and her team inspected some sites out of the eight Lots in Eleme and the Lot 17 in Botem Community in Tai Local Government Area.

Donatus Ebi