seeks full inclusion of Ogoni people in project 

By Davies Iheamnachor, Port Harcourt

The Federal Government has expressed regrets over litigations from some people of Ogoni ethnicity in Rivers State against the ongoing remediation exercise, stating that some manmade obstacles can destroy the ongoing cleanup project in Ogoni land if cautions are not taken.

The FG commissioned four water schemes initiated by the Hydrocarbon Remediation Pollution Project, HYPREP, in four local government areas of Ogoni.

The Minister of Environment, Balarabe Lawal, who was in the state on a two-day working visit while commissioning the water schemes, reiterated FG’s commitment to ensure speedy completion of the project but called on the people to support and cooperate with the government to expedite actions in the clean-up project.

Lawal stressed the need for Ogoni people to get fully involved in all the processes of HYPREP as major beneficiaries, urging them to own the project.

The minister decried the pace of the project, stating that the litany of lawsuits against the ministry on issues he described as frivolous are creating obstacles to the execution of programmes in the project.

While talking to Ogoni stakeholders in Port Harcourt, Lawal noted that one of the issues causing conflict in HYPREP is the non-involvement of the people in the project’s programmes.

Lawal promised that the Ministry would review the operations of HYPREP, emphasising that 40% of youth and women would be considered in all programmes and activities of the project.

He said, “The President is very committed to the issue of land degradation in Ogoniland. I want to appeal to all of you to give us a helping hand in trying to sustain this scheme. Of course, there is a lot of progress made while trying to restore life to the Ogoni people, but there are a lot of issues that we need to address, and one of them is the involvement of people.

“I want to appeal to all of you to take the opportunity given to you by the Federal Government. We need your cooperation and support. Every day I get litigation from people taking HYPREP to court and agitating. There are cases of vandalism and extortion, and I think this is a time for us to sit down and see that we nip all these obstacles in the bud. If we allow this to continue, some obstacles can destroy the project.

“In planning, you must get the people involved, and this is what I saw slightly missing in the project. It is also important to plan with the people because if you do that, there will be a level of planning, and people will begin to own the project and see it as their own. But when you come from upstairs and think about the people, at the end of the day, the programmes become a disaster. We are going to get the people along. We are going to involve people at every step of the project.”

However, the Project Coordinator, HYPREP, Prof. Nenibarini Zabbey, disclosed that the Terabor water scheme has a storage capacity of 900000 litres with a reticulation distance of 8 kilometres across seven communities in Gokana, namely Nweol, Lewe, Mogho, Bera, Kpor, Gbe, and Giokoo. The Korokoro water facility has a 500,000-litre tank capacity with a reticulation distance of over 2 kilometres and reticulates the Ueken communities.

He explained further that the Ebubu water scheme has a tank capacity of 650,000 litres with a reticulation distance of 3 kilometres, while the Kpean facility has a tank capacity of 500000 litres with a reticulation distance of 1 km.

Zabbey noted that HYPREP would run the facilities for three years in active collaboration with the communities, non-governmental organisations, the Rivers State Ministry of Water Resources and Rural Development, and the local government areas, and that it would establish a consumer-based water consumers association to manage the facilities.