By Davies Iheamnachor

The people of Ogoni ethnic nationality in Rivers State have scored the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project, HYPREP, 70 percent in the ongoing cleanup of their oil polluted environment.

This was as HYPREP through its Ogoni Local Enterprise Development and Business Linkages (Ogoni-LED Biz Linkages) presented a Sustainable Livelihood Business Intervention Funds to 60 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, MSMEs in the area.

HYPREP in the programme had raised N18,000,000 to empower the sixty businesses in which 15 beneficiaries drawn from Tai, Gokana, Khana and Eleme, local government areas of the extraction were picked through Need Assessment process.

Speaking during the event in Port Harcourt a well-respected Ogoni Royal father, the Gbenemene and Kasimene VI of Ancient Bangha Kingdom, Khana Local Government Area and the Acting President Supreme Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers, His Royal Majesty, King (Dr) Suanu Baridam, said HYPREP has done well for the people of Ogoni.

Baridam, who regretted that some youths of Ogoni have often criticized the ongoing project from the stand point that HYPREP is not meeting its responsibility, stated the project is performing beyond expectation.

The royal father said HYPREP has done so much in Livelihood support programmes, emergency measure and the project proper, tasking the beneficiaries of the MSMEs empowerment to be good apostles of the project.

He said: “It is important to understand that the cleanup exercise is about the land and not structures. So, a lot of people don’t understand that training and empowerment are going on so they should tell the people that outside the issue of tilling the ground that they (HYPREP) are investing in individuals which is going to affect the economy of the area.

“A lot of misunderstanding, distrust is going on, a lot of people don’t understand how the HYREP business is run.  This is a testimony to what HYPREP is doing to improve the lives of the people.

“HYPREP has done very well for Ogoni people. We have to be ambassadors of HYPREP because it is what you get here and tell the people that the people would know. What they are hearing outside is not truth. People should know that HYPRE is doing the best. We can score HYPREP 70 over 100%.”

However, the Project Coordinator of HYPREP, Prof. Nenibarini Zabbey, reassured all stakeholders of the commitment of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and FG to the implementation of the recommendations of the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP, Report.

Zabbey noted that the businesses empowered were identified through a Needs Assessment exercise, adding that at the end of the selection process, selected business owners were trained in collaboration with the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center to strengthen their capacity to run and sustain their businesses.

He said: “The Business Intervention Support Fund for Small and Medium Businesses is designed to help promote the growth of SMEs in local communities in Ogoni and kick-start the process of renewed economic growth.

“It is our expectation that beneficiaries of this support fund will grow to be dependable entrepreneurs who will be the economic heart and soul of their communities, providing not just goods and services but also creating jobs, fostering innovation, and contributing to the unique character of Ogoniland.”