By Obiabin Onukwugha
As the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), says it has achieved significant progress in the ongoing remediation of polluted sites in Ogoni, stakeholders have met to chart a course for effective cleanup.
The stakeholders gathered via a two-day joint retreat for members of the Governing Council of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) and the Ogoni Trust Fund Incorporated in Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State.
The retreat aimed at strategically repositioning HYPREP towards effectively meeting its mandate as recommended in the UN Environment Programme Report on Ogoni Environment.
In a significant demonstration of commitment of the Federal Government under the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and in line with the Presidential Directive as encapsulated in Priority 3, Deliverable 3 on the Acceleration of the Ogoni Cleanup Programme, five ministers attended this high-profile retreat, including representatives of Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited/JV.
They included Balarabe Lawal, Minister for Environment and Chairman, Governing Council, HYPREP; Senator Abubakar Bagudu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning; Abubakar Momoh, Minister of Regional Development; Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, PhD, Minister of State Petroleum (Oil), represented by Dr Enene Xynex Ambah and Ekperikpe Ekpo, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas).
Others included Emmanuel Deeyah, Chairman, BoT, Ogoni Trust Fund, Inc, HYPREP Project Coordinator and Secretary of Governing Council, Prof Nenibarini Zabbey, Engr Tony Attah, MD/CEO Renaissance Africa Energy Company, represented by Mr Igo Weli, GM, Relations & Sustainable Development and Mr John Ede, Project Manager, Environment and ORP, as well as Joint Venture partners from TotalEnergies and Oando.
Also in attendance were the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, represented by Alhaji Usman Abbas, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Environment, Mr Mahmud Kambari, and other members of the HYPREP Governing Council and Board of Trustees.
The Retreat, with the theme: “Strategic Governance for Sustainable Remediation of Oil-impacted Environment”, provided a veritable platform for participants to robustly appraise project performance, review policy frameworks, and make invaluable interventions in the implementation of the Ogoni Clean-up Programme.
Discussions centred on specific mandate areas of HYPREP, the need for synergy across the Project stakeholders paradigm, effective policy development, fundraising dynamics, policy and strategy reviews, performance evaluation and accountability, and effective project implementation.
Addressing participants, the Minister of Environment, Balarabe Lawal, reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to the Ogoni Cleanup Programme. He urged both the BoT and GC to live up to their responsibilities of fund mobilisation and effective project monitoring.
Lawal, added that the Project structures should leverage the ministers’ renewed commitment to the Project to garner the needed governmental interventions. He emphasised the need for both the GC and BoT to work collaboratively with critical stakeholders to ensure that HYPREP’s functions are carried out very well.
Also, Ministers of Budget and Economic Planning, Regional Development, and Petroleum (Oil and Gas), who commended the Hon. Minister of Environment and HYPREP’s efforts in the Ogoni Cleanup Programme, suggested alternative funding sources.
Meanwhile, to sustain the gains recorded by HYPREP, Emma Deeyah, submited that the HYPREP should be made an agency of government. The BoT chairman advised HYPREP to develop a holistic project implementation roadmap that will enable it effectively deliver on its mandate.
Mr Igo Weli, who spoke for Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited, the operator of the Joint Venture, assured that the company is committed to the success of the Ogoni Cleanup Programme, while urging prudent use of funds.
Presenting the Project Status Report, Project Coordinator, Professor Nenibarini Zabbey, highlighted HYPREP’s key milestone achievements across thematic areas, including soil and shoreline remediation, mangrove restoration (Biodiversity recovery), provision of potable water, livelihood interventions, special projects(Construction of the Centre of Excellence for Environmental Restoration, Ogoni Power Project), public health interventions among other value added projects.
In the coming days, it is expected that the outcomes of this high-level retreat will be far-reaching in shaping policy directions, engagements with relevant inter-governmental agencies and other actionable plans that will not only foster the accelerated implementation of the Ogoni Cleanup Programme, but also engender a feasible roadmap for a sustainable clean-up of other parts of Nigeria.
Meanwhile, despite successes recorded, repolluion is a major challenge in the ongoing cleanup.
At the agency’s fourth-quarter 2025 stakeholders and regulators’ meeting, which held recently in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, HYPREP’s Director of Technical Services, Dr Damian-Paul Aguiyi, warned that re-pollution remains the single greatest threat to the success of the Ogoni cleanup.
“Our major concern is waking up one day to find areas cleaned with Ogoni people’s resources re-polluted by activities beyond our control,” he said, stressing that environmental recovery must be protected as much as it is delivered.
He attributed the sharp decline in illegal artisanal refining in Ogoniland over the past two to three years to sustained community engagement and alternative livelihood programmes, which he said have reduced economic dependence on destructive practices.
“We have not recorded incidents of artisanal refining in Ogoniland in the last two to three years, and that is the result of consistent sensitisation and viable livelihood options,” he added.
