File photo: HYPREP logo
The Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project has declared that Ogoniland in Rivers State is now free of illegal artisanal refining sites, following ongoing remediation and environmental clean-up operations in the area.
HYPREP also said it has recorded 90 per cent success in the ongoing mangrove restoration and shoreline remediation in Ogoniland.
Mangrove Restoration Officer for HYPREP, Dr Uche Izuchukwu, disclosed this when the International Working Group on Petroleum Pollution and Just Transition in the Niger Delta visited Ogoniland.
The group was in Ogoni to understudy the ongoing remediation carried out by HYPREP.
Izuchukwu told the delegation that the project recorded reduced incidents due to stakeholder involvement and partnership with the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency.
“Before this project started, we have interacted with artisanal refiners identified in Ogoni. And I can tell you as of today, there is no active artisanal refining site in Ogoni,” he stated.
Izuchukwu also said HYPREP had restored about 560 hectares of shoreline and planted six different species of mangrove.
“Out of the six species, three are red, one black, one white,” he said.
He also stated that the project has planted over 1,532,000 seedlings and recovered about two tonnes of oil from the shoreline.
On the survival rate, he said, “While there are challenges such as insects, the project has recorded 90 per cent survival of the mangroves.
“We are done with our phase one planting, and what we are doing now is monitoring the plants. We also have phase two commencing in seven other communities.”
Speaking with journalists after the visit, a member and leader of the delegation, Isaac Osuoka, said the International Working Group on Petroleum Pollution and Just Transition in the Niger Delta was working on the implementation of the Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission Report.
He said the aim of the visit was to study the situation in Ogoni and the ongoing clean-up.
Osuoka said the group was established following the work of the Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission, whose findings were similar to the United Nations Environment Programme report on Ogoniland.
He said pollution in Ogoni is part of the wider Niger Delta crisis.
“The entire Niger Delta is badly polluted. It is an outrage. There is no part of the world that is as polluted as the Niger Delta,” he said.
He commended HYPREP for sustaining remediation in line with the UNEP report.
A professor in Environmental and Urban Change at York University, Toronto, Canada, and a member of the group, Anna Zalik, said their focus was to promote the implementation of the Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission report.
She said proper remediation would require long-term commitment from the government, international community and oil companies.
On his part, Director of the ODI Global Politics and Governance Programme, UK, Kathlyn Nwajiaku-Dahou, acknowledged HYPREP’s progress, especially mangrove restoration.
She said, “We came here to learn, to listen, and I think I’ve learned quite a lot. I was very impressed by the attempts to begin the process of replanting mangroves after clean-up and remediation.”
She, however, described the clean-up as “a drop in the ocean,” noting that the Niger Delta’s problems remain enormous.k
Addressing the delegation, HYPREP Project Coordinator, Prof Nenibarini Zabbey, represented by Mr Raphael Sane, said livelihood programmes, training, water provision, and other projects are aimed at ensuring sustainability of the clean-up in Ogoniland.
Sites visited by the delegation included the Bomu mangrove restoration site, the Kpoghor/Gio Water project, the Ogoni Independent Power Plant, the Ogoni Centre of Excellence in Wiyaakara, the Ogoni Specialist Hospital, and an ongoing remediation site.
Members of the group also planted mangroves in honour of the late Ken Saro-Wiwa, Oronto Douglas, Morris Alagoa, and other environmentalists at the forefront of the struggle for environmental justice in the Niger Delta.
