Ogoni Cleanup May Not Be Completed Under Buhari – FG

The Federal Government announced in Abuja on Wednesday that the Ogoni Cleanup Project would not be finished in the time remaining under the current administration.

After a meeting with the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the Minister of Environment, Mohammed Abdullahi, revealed this to State House media.

“They are phased projects; we do not envisage that we can finish the entire project within the lifetime of this government. However, the process that we can do at the moment, the procurement that we can do at the moment, to ensure that there is immediate irrigation, water projects to ensure that there is clean water provided for the people and that other sites, will begin the remediation process,” Abdullahi said.

The minister explained that the process was being carried out in stages, with ten polluting locations having been cleaned up thus far.

According to Abdullahi, he updated the President on the project’s development, and the President urged the ministry to guarantee that the project was given enough attention.

When questioned if the current administration still intends to complete the cleanup process during its mandate, the minister replied that while it is speeding up the process, there are no indicators that all phases would be completed before Buhari takes office next year.

“There is nothing miraculous about our approach to the cleanup operations; it is going to be a very pragmatic, practicable and quick-win solution. First, like I told you earlier, is to ensure that there is a multi-stakeholder agreement in terms of what we’re supposed to do, where we’re going.

“Then secondly, we’ve taken very strong steps to address the concerns bordering on procurement, on project management, on fund management and so on, so that all stakeholders will be on board. So, I can assure you that if these issues are resolved, within the next couple of weeks, we should be focused on immediate procurement processes that will ensure that the projects are implemented as at when due.

“However, they are phased projects, we do not envisage that we can finish the entire project within the lifetime of this government. The process that we can do at the moment, the procurement that we can do at the moment, to ensure that there is immediate irrigation, water projects to ensure that there is clean water provided for the people and that other sites, will begin the remediation process.”