The House of Representatives Committee on Host Communities has solicited more funding for the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project to enable the agency to complete all outstanding projects regarding the Ogoni cleanup.
The committee, led by its Chairman, Dumnamene Dekor, made the call while fielding questions from newsmen after a two-day oversight visit to project sites undertaken by HYPREP in Ogoniland, Rivers State.
Dekor noted that the initial funds provided for the start of the cleanup exercise had been utilised, saying project execution had surpassed initial expectations.
“We hear, read on the pages of newspapers, and see on social media every day all kinds of millions and dollars, the funds are not available.
“Let us understand that for this project to be sustainable, and for even the cleanup and all of that to be completed, much more funding is needed.
“So we call on all those who have a responsibility of ensuring that funds are provided to do the needful. The initial fund was like a take-off grant. So, we have taken off much more than was expected.
“Those who polluted should come back to pay.”
I understand the NNPC, now Renaissance, formerly Shell, and all of the other partners made this contribution. It is time for them to continue. So if they brought a billion dollars before, we’d be asking for much more than a billion dollars.
“There are some sites, mostly those very complex sites. Work will need to take off on those sites,” he said.
According to him, the committee has initiated a bill aimed at spreading the cleanup to other oil-polluted communities in the Niger Delta region.
“Let me first of all inform you that this is a pilot scheme, and aside from the fact that we have issues of environmental degradation, as you can find in all other parts of the Niger Delta.
“What we have decided to do because we have presided over all host communities, all bearing communities, what we have done is that the committee has come up with a bill, which we have also got HYPREP involved, the Ministry of Environment, and all of the people that are supposed to be involved, they are involved in it.”
Dekor commended HYPREP’s commitment to the implementation of the project, expressing happiness that all the projects visited were over 80 per cent completed.
The Project Coordinator of HYPREP, Prof. Nenibarini Zabbey, noted that the agency had over 120 project sites across various thematic areas.
Zabbey said, “And today we are very excited to have the House of Reps Committee on Host Communities come to visit our project sites.”
“We have over 120 project sites cutting across all the thematic areas that HYPREP is intervening in, from remediation to shoreline cleanup, to provisioning of potable water, strengthening of hospitals, creating jobs, providing skills for the youths and women of Ogoni.
He noted that the visit gave the committee firsthand knowledge of the state of the project and the opportunity to make recommendations on the way forward.
“So for us, it provides an opportunity for the Committee on Host Communities to visit by themselves and be able to judge and make recommendations as to what we need to improve,” Prof. Zabbey added. So, we are happy to host them,” he said.