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From Tony John, Port Harcourt
The Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) has tasked the newly appointed Project Coordinator (PC) of the Hydrocarbons Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), Professor Nenibarini Zabbey, to advocate for a comprehensive health and environmental audit of Ogoniland and the entire Niger Delta region.
HOMEF has also urged the Project Coordinator to make accountability and transparency key planks of his tenure.
The Director of HOMEF, Nnimmo Bassey, made the call in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, noting that with Zabbey’s pedigree as an academician and activist, the expectations of stakeholders are high and failure is not an option.
He said: “While we congratulate Prof. Zabbey on this appointment, we equally take the opportunity to register some key urgent demands and hope that he uses his office to advocate for a comprehensive health and environmental audit of Ogoni land, the entire Niger Delta and wherever there have been negative impacts of hydrocarbons exploration and exploitation.
“Transparency, focus and inclusion of all relevant stakeholders must be key in the operations.”
Bassey stated that the clean-up of the Ogoni environment has taken longer than necessary despite the available resources and manpower made.
“In 2012, the Nigerian government established the Hydrocarbons Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP) to help with the clean-up of Ogoni land and impacted communities. The anachronistic name was changed to Hydrocarbons Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) in 2016 when the cleanup was flagged off. Project coordinators for the job have come and gone, and yet a new one has been appointed.
HOMEF also called for regular consultations in which projected milestones are shared and achieved targets are presented.
The group added that things must be done differently and the complex pollution sites must be tackled resolutely.
Bassey continued: “We applaud the appointment of Prof. Nenibarini Zabbey, who has deep knowledge of the Ogoni environment and has done important research in the area and in the wider Niger Delta region.
“This appointment coming 12 years after the UNEP report should signify a turning point in the
the sluggish manner by which the clean-up has been approached.”
Bassey further explained that time is of the essence as the situation gets worse with every passing day.
HOMEF, however, called on the Federal Government, and the oil and gas industry to begin a comprehensive cleanup of the Niger Delta region and take coordinated action to end all forms of pollution including gas flaring.
