President Muhammadu Buhari has given approval for the cleaning up of Ogoni land dented with oil spillage.
The presidential directive followed the report of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) on the environmental restoration of Ogoniland.
President Buhari also approved the compositions of the Governing Council and Board of Trustees of Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP) which were majorly facilitated by the recommendations of the Executive Director of UNEP, the UNEP Special Representative for Ogoniland, Permanent Secretaries of the Federal Ministries of Environment and Petroleum Resources, and other stakeholders, including the amendment of the Official Gazette establishing the Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP) to reflect a new governance framework on the project.
Members of the governing council and their representatives would include: Ministry of Petroleum Resources (One Representative), Federal Ministry of Environment (One Representative), Impacted States (Rivers) (One Representative) Oil Companies & NNPC (4 Representative), Ogoniland (2 Representatives), United Nations System (One Representative) while the Secretariat would be headed by Project Manager.
Similarly, the composition of a Board of Trustees for the HYPREP Trust Fund as would also involve the Federal Government, NNPC, one representative; International Oil Companies, one Representative, Ogoniland, one representative and the United Nations System with one representative.
A statement from the State House endorsed by the presidential spokesman, Mr. Femi Adesina stated that “a contribution deposit of 10 million United States dollars will be made by stakeholders within 30 days of the appointment of members of the Board of Trustees for the Trust Fund who will be responsible for collecting and managing funds from contributors and donors.”
It added that the environmental clean-up of Ogoniland will commence in earnest with the President’s inauguration of the HYPREP Governing Council and the Board of Trustees for the Trust Fund just as a new implementation template has also been evolved at the instance of President Buhari.
