FG says work at Ogoniland not dormant

The Federal Government has denied that work at the ongoing Ogoni clean up is dormant, saying, government did not wait for the governance structure to be all in place before starting work on the project. 

“As can be seen from the preceding, the work has not been dormant. A project of this nature requires a lot of detailed planning and background work for the long term sustainability of the project and its outcomes,”  it said.

The office of HYPREP Project Coordinator, Dr Marvin Dekil responding to questions from journalists said the initial challenges experienced with new project such as setting up of office and deployment of staff are being speedily resolved. 

He disclosed that the staff deployed by the Federal Ministry of Environment have since arrived Port Harcourt to start work.

He said an initial fund of $1 billion is budgeted for the project, out of this amount, $200 million is to be disbursed yearly for the first five years.

On if the budget passage is delayed, he said, “The project is fully on course and will not be affected by such delays.  The work will be conducted in line with international best practice applicable to projects of this nature. This will involve the participation of competent experts and project managers, as well as a robust monitoring and evaluation system.”