The Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) has called on members of civil society in Rivers State to be worthy and dependable partners of the agency in contributing meaningfully to the success of the Ogoni clean-up.
The Project Coordinator of HYPREP, Prof Neinibarini Zabbey, who made the call during the 2nd Regional Civil Society Dialogue on HYPREP and Ogoni at Visa Karena Hotel in Port Harcourt, said being a member of the civil society before his appointment as Project Coordinator, he was quite at home with the activities of the organisation, and as such, the members should leverage on the existing partnership and collaboration with HYPREP to contribute meaningfully to the clean-up project.
This, he said the civil society can do by not only pointing out where HYPREP is not doing well but also proffering solutions on the way forward.
The Project Coordinator equally appealed to the civil society members to also solicit for funds on behalf of HYPREP, as the Federal Government outfit needs more money to drive the projects and programmes it is carrying out in Ogoniland, assuring them that such funds would be prudently managed by the Project Coordination Office.
Zabbey, who was represented at the occasion by Mr Joseph Kpobari Nafo of the HYPREP's Communication Unit, thanked the civil society organisations for working with HYPREP as partners and ensuring that the Ogoni clean-up succeeds, and took time out to enumerate what the agency is doing in the four Ogoni local government areas of the State.
He disclosed that projects are spread evenly in the four local government areas, saying, HYPREP has embarked on so many projects in Ogoniland beyond what is contained in the United Nations Environment Programme(UNEP) Report.
The Project Coordinator further indicated that what HYPREP is doing in Ogoniland is real, and not stories told by moonlight, as the projects being executed are verifiable and can be seen and touched.
While stressing the need for the expectations of the Ogoni people and the communities to be properly managed and harnessed, Zabbey said the work of HYPREP is not something that could be delivered and accomplished with a wave of the hand, as ample time is needed and required for the agency to execute its core mandate and achieve results.
He particularly explained why HYPREP is embarking on the Ogoni power project, saying, when completed, the power project would provide stable and sustainable power supply to beneficiaries of its training programmes as well as power the water facilities so far provided in the area, beside transforming the entire Ogoni landscape.
According to him, HYPREP is envisaging a situation where power is directly drawn to Ogoniland from the Afam power plant instead of depending on power supply from the national grid in Port Harcourt.
On his part, the Team Lead of the Peoples Advancement Centre and member of HYPREP's Governing Council representing civil society, Comrade Celestine Akpobari, said the civil society decided to be involved in monitoring what HYPREP is doing in Ogoniland to guard against what political elite and government officials had done to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
According to him, the political elite and officials of government had allegedly turned the NDDC into an Automated Teller Machine (ATM).
"This is one of the reasons for bringing together civil society actors and community leaders once or twice every year to look at the operations of HYPREP, its success story, benefits and challenges", he said.
Akpobari further noted that "it is time civil society organisations came together to build a vibrant team to support HYPREP and act as a watchdog over this project, especially now that one of our own, Prof Neinibarini Zabbey is overseeing this laudable timely intervention."
He reiterated that NDDC got to its sorry and deplorable state partly because "we never had civil society organisations watching over what happens in that agency of government that has sadly been turned into an ATM machine by the political elite and officials of government."
He further noted that Ogoni beyond oil is possible, and foreclosed the possibility of the resumption of oil production in Ogoniland side by side the ongoing clean-up of the environment, saying, resuming oil operations in the area would amount to "opening the tap and pretending to be mopping the floor."
In his presentation, the Director of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Dr Nnimmo Bassey x-rayed the Ogoni clean-up and the journey so far, and came to the inevitable conclusion that HYPREP has fared well but that more still needed to be done.
He said the rest of the Niger Delta has similar demands like the Ogoni people as contained in the Ogoni Bill of Rights.
According to him, the Niger Delta has not responded to the Ogoni Bill of Rights, as the region is still faced with the stark reality of oil pollution and degradation of the environment, including the devastation of the livelihoods of the people.
Bassey further posited that all communities in the Niger Delta should be regarded as host communities since all of them feel the negative impacts of oil pollution and gas flaring, saying the Ogoni people and the Niger Delta people are carriers of hydrocarbon in their blood.
He also decried the delay in remediating oil polluted sites in the Niger Delta, stressing that such delays deepen and compound the problems.
While commending HYPREP for providing potable water in Ogoniland, the HOMEF Director said what the agency is doing by going beyond the clean-up of polluted sites is good and encouraging.
He, however, noted that civil society organisations have a right to call HYPREP to order if it is not doing the right thing.
Bassey recommended a comprehensive clean-up of the Niger Delta and the setting up of a Bayelsa Recovery Fund, particularly against the backdrop of the recent presentation of the Bayelsa Environmental Report.
He propagated the adoption of the principles of Remediation, Restoration, Regeneration and Reparation as a way of tackling the environmental challenges facing the Niger Delta.
Another resource person, Prof Fidelis Allen of the University of Port Harcourt presented a thought-provoking paper titled, 'An Ogoni Beyond Oil Is Possible.'
While thanking HYPREP for achieving some milestones in Ogoniland, Allen said HYPREP does not, however, fall within an Ogoni beyond oil because it is ideologically disconnected from the concept.
Former President of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People(MOSOP), Comrade Legborsi Pygbara said the ongoing clean-up in Ogoniland is a product of the Ogoni struggle and never a gift from the Federal Government to the Ogoni people, and, therefore, it is the duty of the people to continue to monitor what is going on in HYPREP.
Pygbara said an Ogoni beyond oil is possible with the deployment of alternative sources of revenue, as it is being done in Japan.
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