The Project Coordinator of Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP), Marvin Dekil has explained why Ogoni cleanup was missing in the 2017 budget.
Dekil, who spoke in Port Harcourt yesterday, said the policy of Polluter Pay Principle made it impossible for the National Assembly to include it.
He said HYPREP and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) had drawn up a road map for the holistic remediation of the environment, which is expected to gulp $200 million this year.
He explained that $200 million would be required for the project this year, while the remaining $800 million for the next four years, would be provided by the international oil companies, in partnership with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
He said the Federal Government’s commitment to the implementation of the UNEP report has already been received from a four-man committee that was raised to identity and evaluate existing water facilities in Khana, Gokana, Tai and Eleme local council areas.
“The report was done in line with the recommendation of UNEP, which stated that before any cleanup of the oil impacted environment could be done, potable water must be provided for the people”, he noted.
Dekil said HYPREP has also opened up different sites, at no cost, for the demonstration of remediation opportunities by companies who volunteered to test them technologies.
He said HYPREP has collected new samples (soil, water surface and underground) at various demonstration sites at Kwawa, K-Dere, Korokoro and Ogale communities.
“The report is valid, we are doing an update of the baseline that was obtained at that time. A site that was accessed in 2011, this is 2017, if we wanted to remediate that site today, we will do scooping. It is an exercise that would allow us to capture the contamination profile as at now. And that is what we will use to design the remediation plan”, he said.
Dekil said HYPREP has opened up different sites for the demonstration of remediation technologies by companies who volunteered to test their technologies.
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