The Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), yesterday called on the
National Assembly to immediately conduct an
oversight visits to Ogoniland clean up sites.
The group also queried what government has done with $ 200 million agreed to be released annually for the clean-up of Ogoniland,while also calling for immediate removal of Prof. Philip Shekwolo as the Acting Project Coordinator of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP).
The environmental right group in a press statement signed by the Executive Director, Dr Uyi Ojo and made available to Journalists in Benin City,Edo State said the recommendations was made after a comprehensive report on, “No clean up , no justice: a decade of failure?” by
ERA/FoEN.
It stated that Prof. Shekwolo, being a senior member of Shell, should have no place in the HYPREP which is undertaking the cleanup of Ogoniland pollution earlier caused by Shell,describing his inclusion in HYPREP as an intolerable situation.
“we cannot solve the devastation of the Ogoni environment utilizing the same persons who exacerbated the situation in the first place.Prof. Shekwolo was the Head of the Shell team charged with the cleanup and remediation programme for over 15 years, many of the sites being cleaned today had supposedly been cleaned under the supervision of Prof. Shekwolo.”
Also,Executive Director of ERA/FoEN, Dr. Godwin Uyi Ojo, says the implications of Prof. Shekwolo takingover as Acting Project Coordinator of HYPREP is an indication that Shell is in control of the Ogoni cleanup and the possibilities are there that he will run the cleanup in the same manner it has always carried out the cleanup exercise in the Niger Delta region.
“Therefore, ERA/FoEN is calling for the immediate sack of Prof. Shekwolo from HYPREP as well as Shell from the Governing Council, Board of Trustees and the project coordinating office.”
Similarly, the environment organization frowned on the inclusion of politicians in the recently reconstituted Governing Council and the Board of Trustees of HYPREP.
According to the organization, “the recently reconstituted Governing Council and the Board of Trustees of HYPREP is peopled by politicians expressing a sense of political patronage. The cleanup process should not be used as an opportunity to provide job for the boys or party loyalists.
“We call on the Nigerian state to keep politicians far away from the cleanup process and allow the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and other capable individuals to manage the Ogoni cleanup process to ensure it does not fail.”
ERA/FoEN further questioned the delay over the release of at least US$200 million yearly for initial five years period which should have amounted to US$1 billion by 2021. Has the money been fully paid, and what was the funds used for, ERA queried.
