NIGERIA: Federal Govt Begins Clean-up of Ogoniland

Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke

After suffering delays caused by the January protests over the fuel subsidy removal, the Federal Government Monday announced that it has commenced the implementation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report on the clean-up of Ogoniland, damaged by years of oil exploration.

Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, made this known at a press briefing held by the Minister of Environment, Hadiza Mailafiya, who led a team to present her ministry's policy thrust for the 2013 budget and the implementation of the 2012 budget to President Goodluck Jonathan.

In a swift reaction, the United Nations welcomed the decision to clean up Ogoniland, a year after UNEP submitted a scientific assessment of oil pollution in the community to the government.

The Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) had last week declared statehood in the environmentally devastated area of Rivers State.

MOSOP President, Dr. Goodluck Diigbo, said the Ogoni people would be more secure by attaining the status of self-governance.

However, last week, Jonathan had approved the setting up of a Hydro-Carbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP) to speed up the government’s commitment to implementing the UNEP assessment report on the spill disaster in Ogoniland.

The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, who announced the project, had said the setting up of HYPREP was in keeping with the government’s determination to protect the environmental rights of the people.

Alison-Madueke, who was with Mailafiya at Monday's briefing at the State House, said in addition to implementing the recommendations of the UNEP report, HYPREP would also investigate, evaluate and establish other hydrocarbon impacted sites and make appropriate recommendations.

“With the establishment of this project, it is expected that all stakeholders, especially the impacted communities, will cooperate fully with government and grant unfettered access to all impacted sites to ensure complete success.

“We are making enormous efforts, I agree that the presentation was made last year, but you recall that just after the presentation of the UNEP report, the country fell into some kind of unrest due to the fuel subsidy issue.

“For quite a number of weeks, all of us were not doing what we should have been doing at that time. But it is not true that government is not doing anything,” Alison-Madueke said.

She said the UNEP report recommended the provision of potable or alternative sources of water supply, marking out the wells that were too polluted and undertaking other strategic framework activities that needed to be in place before its implementation.

She acknowledged that with the assistance of the Rivers State Government and the National Oil Spill Remediation Agency (NOSRA), some of the tasks had been accomplished.

“A place where pollution has taken place for a very long time requires a very formidable approach and we have been working on it through the petroleum ministry.

“I am glad to inform you that everything is in place and that we are just waiting for the execution.

“I want to debunk the statement that nothing has been done. Perhaps you on the other side are waiting just to see us on the ground. If you go there, you will find out what groups of people have been doing depending on the nature of what they have to do.

“It is not a situation where you just take officers and equipment and drive into a system and say I am going to clean up, it is beyond sweeping. It is the whole task of trying to re-mediate a place that has been polluted for decades,” Alison-Madueke said.

The UN report submitted on August 4, 2011, had slammed the multinational oil companies, particularly leading operator Royal Dutch Shell, and the government, for 50 years of oil pollution that has devastated the   Niger Delta.

The report said the area needed the world’s biggest ever oil clean-up, taking at least 25 years and costing an initial $1 billion. Shell and the government swiftly pledged to act on it.

The UN, in a statement Monday, lauded the government’s bid to clean up Ogoniland.

“On the anniversary of the Ogoniland assessment there are now clear and encouraging signals that the government is keen to move on the recommendations – this is a welcome development for the people and the environment of this region who have suffered, and continue to suffer, the legacy of some 50 years of unsustainable oil exploration and production,” UNEP’s Executive Director, Achim Steiner, said in the statement.

The independent scientific assessment, carried out over a 14-month period, showed greater and deeper pollution than previously thought after an agency team examined more than 200 locations, surveyed 122 kilometres of pipeline rights of way, analysed 4,000 soil and water samples, reviewed more than 5,000 medical records, and engaged over 23,000 people at local community meetings.

Mailafiya also urged Nigerians to safeguard their lives and environment by adhering to environmental laws and guidelines issued by the government.

Reacting to questions on what was being done to check incessant flooding in the South-west and other parts of Nigeria, the minister stressed that floods occur in other parts of the world but Nigeria's case was worsened by ignorance and refusal to comply with regulations.

On the highlights of her presentation to the president, she said: “For more than two hours, the ministry presented its policy thrust for the 2013 budget and the priority for budget 2012 and as is the tradition, it was discussed and critiqued.

“We were here to brief the president and the team on the 2013 budget; as you are aware the executive is making all efforts to ensure that the  budget is submitted early and in good time for us to get it back and begin to implement as and when due.

“The issues discussed have to do largely with the policy thrust of the ministry which of course you are very conversant with. We will be looking at what we have done in 2012, and what we can do better in terms of principally packaging our project, the manner of which we conceive the projects and the manner in which we implement them.”

Asked to highlight the performance of the 2012 budget, Mailafiya declined, saying she had come to talk about the projects that her ministry started in 2012 and how far they had gone.

THISDAY