There are great expectations that the Ogoni oil spill clean-up exercise does not falter as it did in the past.
The four Ogoni local government councils of Khana, Gokana, Tai and Eleme have been at loggerheads with Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) over what they described as the age-long exploitation and despoliation of their natural resources without commensurate financial benefit.
The clash of interests and misunderstanding between Shell and the Ogonis culminated with death of Ken SaroWiwa and nine of his Ogoni kinsmen. Shell was forced out of Ogoniland while their oil installations were left at the mercy of vandals.
The resultant effect of oil vandalism is the pollution of the entire Ogoni environment as well as destruction of aquatic lives.
Past administrations such as that of President Olusegun Obasanjo tried to mediate and restore peace in the area but to no avail. President Jonathan in collaboration with the United Nations Environmental Projects (UNEP) stepped in and worked out the process of cleaning up the polluted communities of Ogoniland.
The take-off of the clean-up exercise became a political issue just as there were various conflicting interest groups. The crisis of interest delayed the take off the project to be sponsored by Shell.
But shortly after assumption of office, President Muhammadu Buhari approved the composition of the governing council and trustees of Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP). The setting up of the governing council was to boost the efforts of Shell and other stakeholders towards the implementation of the remaining part of the 76 actions recommended by the world body.
The federal government had in 2016 commissioned UNEP to conduct an independent assessment of the environment and public health impact of oil contamination in Ogoniland and make recommendations to implement the report which was released in August 2011. The report revealed that many components of the environment were severally impacted.
The clean-up exercise which the UNEP report said could be the “most wide-ranging and long term oil clean-up exercise” aims to restore drinking water, soil, creeks and important ecosystems such as mangroves.
The UN report estimated that the clean-up of Ogoniland could take up to 30 years where the initial remediation will take five years and the restoration another 25 years.
The clean-up, however has left many Nigerians, especially the Niger Deltans,trying to appraise the present government and ascertain if the launch was to make a political statement or true effort at restoring the devastated land.
The minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed, had said that the commencement of the clean-up suffered delay due to structural reasons.
She said there was need to put in place necessary structures to ensure the project outlived the current administration, adding that beyond the clean-up which would last 25 years, it became imperative for the host communities to remain clean for the benefit of future generations.
While attributing the declining revenue of the federal government to incessant pipeline vandalism, the minister urged the Niger Delta agitators to embrace peace, saying the federal government was willing to dialogue with the aggrieved stakeholders especially the youths and opinion leaders in the region.
She tasked the oil spill regulatory agencies to step up their activities in order to reduce degradation of the environment.
As Nigerians raise concern on the slow pace of work in the clean-up, however President Muhammadu Buhari approved the inauguration of a 13-man governing council and a 10-man BOT.
The minister had while reacting to the concerns raised by Nigerians about the perceived slow pace of work, said: “We ask for patience as we lay solid foundations for the clean-up. The context is complex and stakeholders are diverse. All must be taken along. President Buhari remains steadfast in his conviction to see Ogoniland and other parts of the Niger Delta cleaned up.”
The governing council recently announced the appointment of Dr. Marvin BarinenDekil as the new project coordinator for the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) to facilitate the implementation of the clean-up exercise and tasked him to deliver results in the lives of people as he coordinates the clean-up.
The council also agreed on the number of projects to embark on this month including the ground breaking for the soil management centre and some demonstration projects on the clean-up programme.
Recently, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo visited Port Harcourt and during a stakeholders’ meeting at the government house, said Shell, one of the oil companies in the region, had been compelled to give $1billion which is to be used for the clean-up in five tranches of $200 million dollars a year.
“They have already given a take-off grant. We are going to begin to use it for certain remediation exercises immediately and also for different community projects in Ogoniland. We have already constituted the project coordination office and we are going to kick off some of the projects,” the Acting president said.
The federal government on Thursday also launched an Integrated Soil Management Centre in Ogoniland.
The ground-breaking was performed by the Minister of Environment in Bori, the traditional headquarters of Ogoni people, in Khana Local Government Area of River State.
The event was historical as it attracted Ogoni sons and daughters at home and in diaspora, as well as representatives of multinational companies and civil societies.
Speaking at the occasion, the Minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed, reiterated that the Ogoni clean-up was part of President Buhari’s campaign promises to people of the area.
She, however, pointed out that the project was not for money sharing, but investing money for the development of the area.
The minister said the clean-up exercise would begin in earnest with the training of 1,200 Ogoni women because of the enormous sacrifices they have made in carrying Ogoni burdens and to train the youths as well.
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