Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, MOSOP, has described the Federal Government’s establishment of the Central Representative Advisory Committee of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project, HYPREP, as an organ to justify the abuse of Ogoni clean-up funds.
The Federal government had last week, set up HYPREP Central Representative Advisory Committee, CRAC, as a demonstration to its commitment towards the Ogoniland clean-up, and also to help build a peaceful and secure environment for the successful implementation of the cleanup.
The Committee, according to the Minister of Environment, Surv. Suleiman Zarma is expected to serve as an all-inclusive and multi-faceted approach to the Ogoniland cleanup, with a clear mandate to act as a bridge between stakeholders, communities, groups, and HYPREP on all issues relating to successful project execution.
Inaugurating the Committee on Monday in Abuja, the Minister of Environment, Surv. Suleiman Hassan Zarma said in setting up the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project, HYPREP, the federal government was careful to note that in the process of executing the cleanup project, there may arise issues from several areas that will require resolution.
But reacting to the development, the President of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke, described HYPREP as a “notable representation of Nigeria’s fantastic corruption.”
Nsuke who spoke from the MOSOP secretariat in Bori, Rivers State, alleged that HYPREP was battling to save its battered and corrupt reputation as an agency simply put in place to siphon the Ogoni Cleanup Funds.
The President of MOSOP insisted that HYPREP was not implementing the UNEP report on Ogoniland but was desperately bent on deceiving the public to justify the federal governments planned to force oil resumption in Ogoni without the consent of the people.
He maintained that what the Federal government was doing in Ogoniland in the name of cleanup is a jamboree and a deception.
“They are definitely not implementing the UNEP report whose first recommendation was the provision of safe drinking water for the Ogoni people.
“HYPREP has jettisoned all recommendations that benefit the Ogoni people and gone ahead to award contracts for cleanup without considering our concerns as Ogoni people. HYPREP has simply become a notable symbol of Nigeria’s fantastic corruption.”
Nsuke also questioned the integrity of the cleanup programme without any plan to handle the contaminated soils.
“UNEP had recommended the establishment of a soil management center to handle contaminated soils but the federal government has abandoned the soil management center and gone ahead to use the cleanup funds for political patronages.”. he said.
