Ogoni clean-up: HYPREP highlights progress 15 years after UNEP report

The Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) Project Coordinator, Professor Nenibarini Zabbey, has said the agency recorded significant progress in implementing the recommendations of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) fifteen years after the release of the landmark Ogoni Environmental Assessment Report.

The report, released on August 4th, 2011 exposed extensive oil pollution in Ogoniland and recommended urgent environmental remediation and public health interventions.

In a statement commemorating the anniversary on Tuesday, Zabbey said the Federal Government commenced implementation of the UNEP recommendations with the launch of the Ogoni Clean-up in 2016, while the establishment of HYPREP in 2017 further strengthened efforts to restore the environment and improve the livelihoods of affected communities.

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He disclosed that HYPREP has completed the remediation of thirty polluted sites identified by UNEP, with remediation work continuing at other contaminated locations across Ogoniland.

According to him, the project has also planted more than one point five million mangrove seedlings in what it described as the world’s largest restoration of oil-degraded mangrove ecosystem.

The HYPREP coordinator further stated that safe drinking water has been provided to forty-nine Ogoni communities through several water schemes, while key healthcare projects, including the one hundred-bed Ogoni Specialist Hospital in Kpite and the forty-three-bed Cottage Hospital in Buan, are nearing completion. He added that several existing healthcare facilities have also been upgraded.

Zabbey said the project has empowered thousands of Ogoni youths and women through skills acquisition programmes, scholarships, business support grants and vocational training in information technology, maritime services, aviation, creative arts and agriculture.

He also revealed that HYPREP has created more than eight thousand direct jobs as part of ongoing efforts to improve livelihoods and drive sustainable development across Ogoniland.

Describing the fifteenth anniversary of the UNEP report as a significant milestone, Zabbey called on the Federal Government, development partners and industry stakeholders to sustain their commitment to environmental restoration and sustainable development.

He reaffirmed HYPREP’s resolve to fully implement the UNEP recommendations and establish a lasting model for the remediation of oil-impacted communities in Nigeria.