By Obiabin Onukwugha
The House of Representatives Committee on Host Communities has called on oil companies operating in the Niger Deltaĥ to decommission and maintain ageing facilities to halt oil pollution in the region.
The Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Dumnamene Deekor, made the call on Thursday during a two-day oversight visit to Ogoniland.
Deekor also urged Ogoni youths to desist from pipeline vandalism to avoid repolluting remediated sites.
“The oil companies, the settlors, should also be alive to their responsibility of ensuring that they close out whenever they are leaving any particular site,” he said.
Deekor, who represents Khana/Gokana Federal Constituency, disclosed that the Committee is sponsoring a bill to sustain the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project, HYPREP, and extend cleanup to the entire Niger Delta.
“This is a pilot scheme. Ogoniland has issues of environmental degradation found in other parts of the Niger Delta, but ours is a special case. Government thought it wise because of the agitations of the Ogoni people,” he said.
“As a committee that oversights all host communities, we have come up with a bill, involving HYPREP, the Minister of Environment and other stakeholders. What we intend to do is to sustain what HYPREP is doing and take it to all other parts of the Niger Delta. When you do an overfly of the Niger Delta, you will weep.”
Deekor rated HYPREP high on remediation but warned contractors handling Ogoni cleanup projects to speed up execution or risk termination.
He cited the water project in Buan community, Khana Local Government Area, as one of the delayed contracts, saying the Committee would meet with the HYPREP Project Coordination Office before taking a final decision.
“For contractors who have decided not to move their projects forward, we have the right to recommend cancellation. Particularly about the water project in Buan, we understand there are issues of variation, but the last time we came, we saw that place like that and it is still like that. If nothing is done, we will recommend outright cancellation,” he said.
The Committee Chairman urged HYPREP to power all water projects with solar systems for seamless operation and called for more funding to deliver sustainable projects.
“If they brought a billion dollars before, we will be asking for more than a billion dollars because when you go around, there are some sites, mostly very complex sites, where work needs to be taken up,” he said.
He commended the Project Coordinator of HYPREP, Prof. Nenibarini Zabbey, for his commitment to the cleanup and livelihood programmes, and thanked the Minister of Environment, Mr. Balarabe Lawal, for progress recorded.
Members of the Committee, Rep. Clement Jimbo, representing Abak/Etim Ekpo/Ika Federal Constituency, and Rep. Emil Inyang, representing Akamkpa/Biase Federal Constituency, commended HYPREP’s interventions and urged Ogoni people to own and maintain the projects.
“We have been on a tour of Ogoniland in the last two days and have seen life-touching projects across Ogoni. What we have seen has completely changed the impression we used to have about Ogoni, particularly the environmental devastation caused by oil spills,” Jimbo said.
“I had the mental picture that the entire land had been devastated and the damage irreparable, but what we have seen has proved it wrong. HYPREP’s interventions have restored life. Fishes, periwinkles and other aquatic life have returned to the rivers, mangroves are growing again.
“Beyond this, we have seen multi-million naira projects – the power plant, cottage and specialist hospitals, solar-powered water projects, youth skills training and the Centre of Excellence. These have changed my mindset about Ogoniland,” he said.
Jimbo commended Zabbey and the Federal Government for the initiative.
In his remarks, Zabbey thanked the Committee for the oversight visit and assured that HYPREP was competent to tackle challenges encountered, while appealing for cooperation of stakeholders.
Projects inspected included land remediation site at Ogale in Eleme LGA, water projects in Kegbara Dere in Gokana LGA, cottage hospital in Buan and specialist hospital in Kpite in Tai LGA, primary health centre in Onne, Eleme LGA, mangrove restoration sites in Bomu and Bodo, as well as the power plant and Centre of Excellence.
