The Minister of Environment, Mrs. Amina Mohammed has disclosed that the federal Government has approved a memo for the amendment of the gazette for the establishment of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Process (HPRP).
The amendment would help to put in place all the structures needed for the smooth take off of the Ogoni clean up and the implementation of the United Nations Environmental Programme’s report.
She said the previous gazette did not provide for government structures such as a board of trustees or a structure that would be held accountable for the enormous amount of money which she said was already available for spending and additional monies that would be available from foreign partners.
According to him, government was already talking to those that would be affected by the Ogoni cleanup, especially women in order to protect their means of livelihood.
Mohammed noted that “This now will enable us to put more structure to the board of trustees which requires a legal entity to put the resources in and then we hope that in the new year we will begin to roll out, to begin with the building of the centre of excellence.
“The integrated soil treatment centre will also go up and then we will begin training, but in this case, we will start training many of the women on their livelihoods in the many of the contaminated areas.
“So we have to find better ways of speaking with communities and also ensuring that the livelihoods of women are not affected. We are also speaking to many of the young people there and we have received good feedback from those who are interested in being a part of the roll-out of the cleanup of Ogoni land in the new year.”
