Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — The Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project, HYPREP, has announced that Nigeria’s first Centre of Excellence for Environmental Restoration, CEER, is now 80 percent complete and is set for commissioning by September 2025.
Project Coordinator of HYPREP, Prof. Nenibarini Zabbey, made the announcement during the report presentation ceremony of the Technical Planning Committee on CEER, at the HYPREP Project Coordination Office in Port Harcourt.
Recall that in May 2024 HYPREP inaugurated a 13-man Technical Planning Committee to plan and design the operational framework for the Centre of Excellence for Environmental Restoration, CEER, as well as advised on the core curricula framework of the Centre.
The CEER, which stems from the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP, recommendations on Ogoniland, is expected to serve as a global research hub for environmental restoration, remediation, and pollution control.
“This report is compact and comprehensive because it touches on the core areas of the centre. We are delighted by the quality of recommendations, including best practices for research, training, and environmental restoration,” said Prof Nenibarini Zabbey.
The HYPREP boss emphasized that the CEER will serve as an international hub where researchers from across the world will collaborate on multidisciplinary environmental research.
“As I mentioned in my opening speech, the Centre is 80% completed, and contractors, along with community workers, are working round the clock to ensure it will be ready for commissioning by September this year,” he stated.
Beyond environmental restoration, the Centre will contribute to national food security, aligning with the Federal Government’s directive that HYPREP expands its mandate to sustainable food systems.
“With the inclusion of biotechnology laboratories at the CEER, we will enhance phytoremediation studies and crop improvement research, contributing to national food security and sovereignty,” Zabbey explained.
HYPREP assured stakeholders that the Technical Planning Committee’s report will be quickly escalated to the Governing Council for immediate implementation.
“I want to assure the committee and stakeholders that with this report, we will move swiftly to operationalize the centre,” Zabbey affirmed.
The Technical Planning Committee on CEER chaired by a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Prof. Don Baridam, outlined key recommendations, including the need for a clear legal framework for the Centre of Excellence to function as an independent institution.
In the interim, the Committee recommended that HYPREP should oversee the CEER’s operations under the existing 2016 Federal Ministry of Environment Gazette.
The Centre will focus on three major pillars of training and research namely, environmental protection, remediation, and restoration; livelihood support programmes for value chain actors, and supporting safe food including clean water production from restored areas for public health restoration.
Members of the Committee who spoke to newsmen said the Centre of Excellence will have a great impact on Ogoniland, Nigeria and the global community as it will have the capacity to handle any kind of international research on environmental pollution.
A member of the committee and former Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Prof Joseph Ajienka, explained that part of the sustainability plan for the Centre is to ensure that products of research are commercialized.
“Once the world knows there is a centre like this for environmental remediation, there is going to be a lot of international collaboration and partnership in research, publication and developing products out of the research and these will put the centre in the map.”
Similarly, Prof. Barineme Fakae, a UNEP consultant on CEER and member of the Committee said, “The facility is the first of its kind in this part of the world and it is good enough to host any kind of international research on environment and pollution.”
