By Gabriel Ewepu

ABUJA- THE House of Representatives Committee on Host Communities, has commended the performance of Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project, HYPREP, during a two-day working visit to some project sites.

The Committee Chairman, Rt Hon Dumnamene Dekor who led other members of the Committee made the commendation based on what he saw on ground and the impact by the Project Coordinator, HYPREP, Prof Nenibarini Zabbey.

Hon Dekor said the Committee has confirmed and was impressed about the transformation brought in the lives of the Ogoni people with a huge number of young people and women meaningfully engaged including execution of about 130 projects.

The Committee visited various project sites including the barricaded remediation site in Ogale, Eleme, the Centre of Excellence for Environmental Restoration, CEER, the Ogoni Specialist Hospital, Bori Cottage Hospital, Bori Water Scheme, Shoreline Remediation and Mangrove Restoration sites in Bomu, Gokana Local Government Area, and while at the Mangrove Restoration site in Bomu, members of the committee also historically planted mangroves seedlings.

He said: “I can bet you if what he’s telling me or telling the community is exactly what will be, then this will be a hub for international research and you will find out that this will automatically place this project on the International Bar and I believe that with even the local components of training artisans and all that and skills that we provided it will go a long way in ensuring that the sufferings of the Ogoni people are alleviated.

“So we are grateful, I think Project Coordinator (Zabbey) we commend you, we commend the Honourable Minister because we have discovered that with your coming into office there is some improvement in the way things are being done.

“Number one, when we get to any site we discover that the man/woman ratio has improved, it is no longer an all-male thing and we believe that those who are benefitting directly from these projects will be able to impact on others who are back home.

“I use this opportunity to call on my brothers and my friends who are from Ogoni, there is an alternative to crime, and those who are working here, a whole lot are back home who have nothing to do but let us not resort to crime and criminality.

“I strongly believe that centres like this will provide more employment for the people. At this time I hear about 900 persons are working on the sites and I think that is massive so I encourage you to also get back home and let others understand that we have to take it bit by bit.

“We’ve gone to the remediation sites, we’ve gone to some water project sites, we have gone to the Ogoni Specialist Hospital, we’ve gone to some other health facilities like the cottage hospital in Bori, we visited some sites that also have some challenges like the one in Eleme where the contractors are not allowed access into about five lots if I’m not making a mistake, for the actual remediation to take place and I can say that so far, it is work in progress but we see renewed vigour.

“Generally, I think what we see conforms with what we had expected, in fact, in some cases we didn’t believe that we would get this far. I’m happy the Project Coordinator has told us that every community will be served with portable water and that gladdens my mind.”

However, he expressed concern over the artisanal refining that goes on around the area, to which he (Hon Dekor) lamented the level of degradation it has caused in the region, therefore devastating the environment that is already impacted by oil and gas exploitation and exploitation.

“I also call on those who are involved in that to look elsewhere and look inwards and abandon this particular trend because there is an alternative to it.

“For HYPREP, we will also expect that you are able to provide other livelihood means for the people because you can see, poverty is all over the place and hunger is in the land”, he stated.

Meanwhile, the Committee assured support and said will ensure funding partners of the Project meet their financial obligations, and make sure that contractors delaying delivery of projects given to them are on ground to do so, therefore, the committee also urged the people also should not relent in giving their support for the Project to continue and succeed.

As part of the demands by members of the area to the Committee, the legislators promised to ensure the sustainability of HYPREP with the legislative process they have commenced.

In his remarks, the Project Coordinator, HYPREP, Prof Nenibarini Zabbey, expressed appreciation for the visit of the Committee, while he explained that the Excellence for Environmental Restoration will be “the hub for international research, where multidisciplinary innovative research in environmental renovation and restoration will take place.

“It is also a centre that has faculty of vocational skill acquisition where we will be training the youths of the Niger Delta and the youths of Nigeria in different skill areas so it will provide a lot of livelihood opportunities for the Ogoni people, Niger Delta, and Nigeria.”