The Federal Government has started implementing the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report on Ogoniland by addressing some emergency measures to provide alternative facilities for the affected communities.
The Director-General of National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), Peter Idabor, who disclosed this in Abuja, said that government had initiated a Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HPRP) to provide alternative facilities for the Ogoni communities.
“What we are dealing with now are emergency measures that UNEP has requested to start with – providing alternative sources of drinking water, putting signs to ward off people from having their bath in dangerous areas.
“Trying to set up a hospital registry to determine if there is any correlation between the number of deaths and oil activities in Ogoniland.
“I think those things are being done, but the Federal Government has set up a body called HPRP of which the Federal Ministry of Environment is part of the Governing Body, including NOSDRA. Our job is to regulate and to effectively make sure that Ogoni is cleaned up,’’ he said.
Idabor said that NOSDRA, as a member of the committee (HPRP), was charged with the mandate to regulate the process of remediation and restoration of the land.
The director-general said that the HPRP had started the first step in implementing the report by carrying out emergency measures to make the communities safe for people to live in.
The UNEP report on Ogoniland was released on August 4, 2011 confirming, claims by local communities and civil society groups that there exists an ecological disaster in the area.