Why we award Ogoni clean-up contracts before emergency measures - HYPREP

Port

Harcourt -- The Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project, HYPREP, has clarified why it had to award contracts and mobilised contractors to begin the clean-up of 16 polluted sites in Ogoniland before the provision of potable water and healthcare as recommended as emergency measures by the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP.

The clarification is coming amid claims and agitations from several quarters that HYPREP was not following the recommendations of UNEP for the remediation of Ogoniland. According the Project Coordinator of HYPREP, Dr. Marvin Dekil, the agency had to adopt a new strategy since the implementation of the UNEP report was eight years late.

Speaking at a sensitisation and town hall meeting on Ogoni clean-up in Saakpenwa, Tai Local Government Area of Rivers State, Dekil stated that under the new strategy, every recommendations of UNEP was now treated as emergency measures, hence, the clean-up, provision of potable water, setting up of the Integrated Soil Contamination Management Centre, amongst others, would happen simultaneously.

He assured that HYPREP would ensure that the clean-up exercise was carried out in line with the UNEP Report and international best practice.

He said: "We needed to adopt a new strategy, since we are eight years late. The UNEP report was released in 2011, it means that we are eight years late and therefore we had to adopt a new strategy.

"In 2011, UNEP said, as an emergency measure, provide water but this was not done. Therefore, having lost eight years, it means everything is now emergency, which means we have to do everything simultaneously.