Maha Christopher
The Federal Government has called for increased private sector participation and donor funding to sustain ongoing progress in the Ogoni environmental restoration project under the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project.
According to The Punch, the Minister of Environment, Balarabe Lawal, made the appeal during a conference on donor facilitation and diplomatic support for HYPREP held in Abuja on Tuesday.
Lawal described the Ogoni cleanup programme as a long term intervention that requires sustained funding, technical support, and international cooperation.
“The project is supposed to be a lifespan project. We must move towards achieving its main aim, which is environmental restoration and sustainable development,” he said.
The minister acknowledged the role of the United Nations Environment Programme, noting that its report provided the scientific foundation for the cleanup exercise.
“We are all here because of that UNEP report. It provided the scientific foundation for what has become one of the world’s most ambitious environmental remediation programmes,” Lawal stated.
He said hundreds of hectares of hydrocarbon polluted land had already been remediated, while additional contaminated sites were still undergoing cleanup operations.
Lawal also disclosed that water projects, healthcare facilities, livelihood support programmes, and ecosystem restoration initiatives were ongoing across affected communities.
According to him, the Centre of Excellence for Environmental Restoration being constructed under HYPREP would serve as a postgraduate and research institute for environmental remediation.
Despite the progress recorded, the minister warned that inadequate funding remained a major challenge threatening the sustainability of the project.
“We need your support—financial, technical, scientific, and strategic. No organisation or government can do it alone,” he said.
Also speaking, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Ogoni Trust Fund, Emmanuel Deeyah, said the conference was aimed at attracting financial and technical support for the cleanup programme.
He lamented that oil companies and local refinery operators had not fully met their expected financial contributions toward the remediation project.
