THE Federal Government has revealed that starting an efficient cleanup of the Ogoni land in Rivers State is hampered by the numerous lawsuits filed against the contaminated sites.
Trojan News reports that the federal government also called for the cooperation of the Ogoni people to hasten the process for the overall benefit of the area.
The Minister of Environment, Balarabe Lawal, made the call at the end of a two-day working visit to the state and the inauguration of four water schemes launched by the Hydrocarbon Remediation Pollution Project on Wednesday.
The minister reaffirmed the federal government’s pledge to see that the exercise was finished quickly.
He stressed the importance of people participating in all HYPREP procedures, pushing them to take ownership of the initiative.
In another development, Lawal mentioned that the lack of participation in HYPREP’s programs is one of the problems that led to conflict while speaking to Ogoni stakeholders in Port Harcourt.
He assured them that the ministry would examine the project’s operations and that all of its programs and activities would consider the participation of 40 per cent of women and youth.
He said, “The President is very much committed to the issue of land degradation in Ogoni land. I want to appeal to all of you to give us a helping hand in trying to sustain this scheme.
“There are a lot of progress made while trying to restore life to the Ogoni people, but there are a lot of issues that we need to address and one of them is the involvement of people.
“I want to appeal to all of you to take the opportunity given to you by the Federal Government.
“We need your cooperation and support. Every day I get litigation, people taking HYPREP to court, agitating. There are cases of vandalism and extortion and I think this is a time for us to sit down and see that we nip all these obstacles in the bud. If we allow this to continue, some obstacles can destroy the project. In planning, you must get the people involved and this is what I saw slightly missing in the project.
“It is also important to plan with the people because if you do that, there is a level of planning, people will begin to own the project and see it as their own. But when you come from upstairs and think for the people at the end of the day the programs become a disaster. We are going to get the people along. We are going to involve people at every step of the project.”
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