Stakeholders Lament Poor Implementation UNEP Report On Ogoni Clean-up
BY ETTA MICHAEL BISONG, ABUJA – The haphazard coordination in implementing the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report on how to re-mediate Ogoni land as well as the entire Niger Delta region after several years of environmental devastation has continued to hamper and delay the process.
A vast spectrum of stakeholders at a one-day summit organised by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), in partnership with the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development (ACLSD) in Abuja, also frowned at what they described as all kinds of silly excuses and institutional bureaucracy bedeviling the exercise
They similarly complained about incessant cases of public health challenges that are traceable to polluted drinking water and carcinogens.
Representing various Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), diplomatic community, the media, indigenous people, oil companies, rights as well as other humanitarian groups, the Stakeholders lamented that not much has been achieved in restoring the environmental health of the region since the present administration flagged-off the clean-up campaign in June 2016.
Executive Director of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Auwal Ibrahim Musa, described the event with the theme: “Management of Contaminated Environments in Nigeria for Sustainable Development” as unique because the subject matter affects everyone and not just those in the Niger Delta region.
“More than one year after the federal government launched the implementation of Ogoni clean-up project, not much has been done to inspire anyone, not least the affected communities,” he said.
He blamed the lack of commitment by the government for the numerous bottlenecks that have characterised the smooth implementation of the exercise.
Similarly, the executive director of the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development Centre (ACLSD), Dr. Otive Igbuzor, expressed displeasure over the slow pace of work carried out so far in the region despite the establishment of independent agencies of government to superintend over the affairs.
Igbuzor argued that there is need to mobilise civil society groups and other key actors in the face of the current realities to help curb the exuberances that accompany most government pronouncements.
This, according to him, underscored the need for the national summit, because all stakeholders including oil companies and other interest groups operating in the region must be counted in the clean-up process.
“The Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP) which is the key agency charged with the responsibility of overseeing the clean-up needs to be insulated from the politics and bureaucratic bottlenecks that hampers its ability to discharge its functions in an independent manner,” he said.
Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo in his speech at the summit explained that the “consortium” of processes and activities in the exercise are aimed at averting any possible recurrence of re-contamination of old and new candidate sites.
Represented by the Minister of State for Environment, Usman Jubril, the vice president urged the general public to follow the process systematically to avoid undue agitations, spread of wrong information on current efforts of the Government and also avert recurrence of the grave contamination and its aftermath effects.
He disclosed that the Project Coordination Office has in the past few months engaged in aggressive sensitisation and awareness activities on the clean-up as part of efforts to engender “Corporate Social Responsibilities” as well as ensure that all the stakeholders, including communities and representatives of impacted sites participate in the implementation aspect of the report.
The UNEP report highlighted that Ogoni land which is the signpost of the clean-up within the larger Niger Delta, might require the world’s biggest-ever clean-up that would likely take up to 30 years before completion.
