FG blames CSOs for delay in Ogoni clean-up, approves N95bn for remediation project

Mohammed Abdullahi, minister of environment, says the federal executive council (FEC) has approved the sum of N95,908,284,450.91 for the remediation of simple hydrocarbon-impacted sites in Ogoniland.

The minister said this on Wednesday while breifing journalists after the FEC meeting in Abuja.

He said the project will be carried out by 35 contractors and is to be completed within 24 months.

He added that FEC also approved N27,585,539,410.10 for phase one of the Ogoni power project.

“On behalf of the ministry of environment, I presented two memos to do with remediation and the power project in Ogoniland,” he said.

“These two projects actually resonate with the Nigerian government and the United Nations Environment Programme’s objective of providing succour to the Ogoni people, particularly in the areas of livelihood and remediation.

“The first memo is on the remediation of simple hydrocarbon-impacted sites in Ogoniland to be carried out by 35 different contractors, with a completion period of 24 months. The cumulative value of the contract is N95,908,284,450.91.

“The second memo also touches on the livelihood of the Ogoni people, and is the construction of 132KV 16 kilometres of transmission lines and 260MVA power substations in phase one of the Ogoni power project, approved for N27,585,539,410.13 and has a completion period of 12 months.”

Speaking further on the Ogoni clean-up, Abdullahi blamed the slow pace of the project execution on litigations by civil society organisations in the area.

He, however, gave the assurance that a supervisory and monitoring team has been set up to ensure the project is executed.

“On the agitation by MOSOP that accuses HYPREP of slow implementation projects, the federal government is as concerned as MOSOP in terms of the seeming slow pace of the project execution,” he said.

“However, in most cases, the federal government is not the direct cause. Sometimes, you find that individuals and CSOs within Ogoniland go to court to obtain one sort of order or another against HYPREP from proceeding with some processes.

“So, it has hampered the process as captured in PPP. As we speak now, there’s a group called the Good Conscience that has gone to court to restrain the federal government from continuing with water projects.

“Now we’re stalled; we can’t move in; we can’t proceed; we can’t make any headway. So, sometimes, most of these slow processes are caused by individuals who have interests in specific areas or projects within Ogoniland.

“We’re as concerned as them and with the funding guarantees that we have now, we have in place a very strong supervisory and monitoring evaluation team that ensures that it must achieve, and of course, eventually for payments.

“So, we assure you that going forward with the funding that we have in place, with the strong supervisory that we have now in place, and then, of course, the assurances we have from the stakeholders, there should be reinvigorated peace in terms of project execution in Ogoniland.”