FEDERAL government has inaugurated
a 12-member Governing Council and 13-member Board of Trustees (BoT) for the
clean-up programme on Ogonoland.
President Buhari, who inaugurated
the members at the Presidential Villa, on Thursday, said the implementation of
the five year-clean up exercise following UNEP report which noted the great damage
will be among the priority of his government until justice is seen to have been
done in the environment...
Members of the Governing Council
include the Minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed, as Chairman; Minister of
Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udoma; Minister of Niger Delta Affairs,
Pastor Usani Usani; Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu; National
Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno; Managing Director of the Niger Delta
Development Commission (NDDC), Nsima Ekere; Managing Director of SPDC, Osagie
Okunbor, amongst others.
Representatives of Ogoni
stakeholders on the council include Pyagbarah Legborsi, Ben Naneen, and two
alternatives.
Members of the Board of Trustees
include Olawale Edun as Chairman; Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun; Minister
of State for Environment, Ibrahim Jibril; Minister of State, Petroleum.
The Ogoni stakeholders, other
communities in the Niger Delta, NGOs as well as the UNEP are also represented
on the board as well as representatives of IOCs include Osagie Okunbor, Insula
Massim, and Alexis Bobk.
Buhari while inaugurating the
boards tasks youths to cooperate with the federal government to ensure uninterrupted
execution of the projects which he said would be of immense benefits to the
youths and generations to come.
“I thank you all for accepting to
serve on the Governing Council and on the Board of Trustees, respectively, of
the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project.
“This is a very important endeavour
that has direct impact on the lives and livelihoods of our brothers and sisters
whose environments have been severely degraded by years of unchecked pollution
from oil exploration activities.
“It is exactly five years today,
on the 4th of August, 2011, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
submitted an extensive report on its environmental assessment of Ogoniland.
“That report, which was
commissioned by the Administration of former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, did
not only document the problems that existed, but also contained recommendations
on how they can be addressed, both in the short term and in the long term.
“Five years on, the project is yet
to properly take off. It would appear to have experienced a series of false
starts, while the local communities continue to suffer from the problem, which
has existed long before the Report.
“This all adds to the picture
described in the UNEP Report as ‘a landscape characterized by a lack of trust,
paralysis and blame.
“I am pleased to note that while
it has been five years since the UNEP Report, it has taken only two months
since this administration flagged off the Project.
“Indeed, a project of this
magnitude requires extensive planning, scientific analysis, community
involvement, and genuine partnerships. As a result, it will require patience
and understanding of the key stakeholders as we move forward.
“It is our collective
responsibility to ensure that the Project remains on course, as we face the
challenges of high expectations and the current conflict in the Niger Delta.
“The clean-up exercise is expected
to go on for two decades. The first five years will address emergency response
measures and remediation while the subsequent years will look to restore the
ecosystems in the Delta.
“The governance framework we lay
today, following extensive consultations, will form the bedrock for
sustainability for years to come,” Buhari said.
However, the Minister of
Environment during her briefing indicated that the projects would commence
fully in six months as she explained that the inauguration of the boards was
aimed at kick-starting the planning aspect of the project.
