The Federal Government has dismissed claims that it has not started the implementation of the United Nations Environment Programme report on Ogoniland.
Although, it blamed the January fuel subsidy strike for slowing down the report implementation.
Already, the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) last Thursday declared statehood for the region, citing the ineffective implementation of the report for the action.
In a report attributed to President/Spokesman of MOSOP, Goodluck Diigbo, the region affirmed that self-government within Nigeria will secure development for the Ogoni people.
But the Minister of Environment, Hadiza Mailafia, on Monday said federal government was making enormous efforts to ensure proper implementation of the report.
Mailafia, who spoke to State House Correspondents after briefing President Goodluck Jonathan on the 2012 budget and the ministry’s programme for 2013, said, “We are making enormous efforts, I agree that the presentation was made last year, but you recall that just after the presentation of the UNEP report the country fell into some kind of unrest due to fuel subsidy issue.
“For quite a number of weeks all of us were not doing what we should have been doing at that time. But it is not true that government is not doing anything.
“The UNEP report highlighted some immediate issues that needed to be addressed; finding potable or alternative supplies of drinking water, such as marking out the wells that were too polluted and doing other strategic framework activities that needed to be in place before the implementation.
“With the support of Governor Rotimi Amaechi and through our agency the National Oil Spill Remediation Agency we have carried out all those tasks.
“A place where pollution has taken place for a very long time requires a very formidable approach and we have been working on it through the petroleum ministry. I’m glad to inform you that everything is put in place and that we are just waiting for the execution.
“I want to debunk the statement that nothing has been done. Perhaps you on the other side are waiting just to see us on the ground. If you go there you will find that groups of people have been going depending on the nature of what they have to do.
“It is not a situation where you just take officers and equipments and drive into a system and say I am going to clean up, it is beyond sweeping. It is the whole task of trying to remediate a place that has been polluted for decades,” she added.
Source: The Nation
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