WITH the recent introduction of HYPREP by the Federal Government (FG), as a step towards implementing last year’s United Nations Environmental Protection (UNEP) report on Ogoni environments, the people of the area have expressed concern about the sincerity of the Federal Government in implementing the recommendations of the report.
The people who expressed the fear during a public programme in Port Harcourt, weekend, suspected a possible gimmick by the government to dodge the implementation of the report.
Speaking through the President and Secretary of the Provisional Council of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), Prof. Ben. Naani and Dr. Mishak Kaanwi respectively, noted the readiness of Ogoni people to resist the programme(HYPREP) if it is discovered to be a ploy to shelve the implementation of UNIEP report.
The duo, in their separate reactions, expressed willingness, support and corporation to the Government and Agencies that would be appointed to carry out the project (HYPREP), in the land.
“MOSOP is not against the arrangements of the FG to clean polluted environments in the Niger Delta Region, but advised that it should be implemented to the later. Our concern is that many government projects and programmes are lying uncompleted across the nation, so let it not be that this HYPREP is going to be one of them.
“This is because if we discover that HYPREP is going to be one of them we will resist it, the people of Ogoni will not continue to endanger their lives in environments that are already polluted.” he noted
On hiring people for the job, the MOSOP president appealed that the local content policy of the Federal Government be applied in hiring those that would assist in doing the clean-up job, adding: “We will allow whatever agency appointed to embark on the clean-up exercise to do their job but as much as possible please give opportunities for jobs that can be handled by local people to Ogonis.”
On his part, Dr. Kaanwi warned against using the funds meant for the implementation of UNEP clean-up job for the HYPREP, he urged the government to ensure the already mapped out funds are fully released for the UNEP job while a different funds should be earmarked
Source: The Nation
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