President Buhari orders cleanup of Ogoniland in Rivers State.

President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that the cleaning up of Ogoniland in Rivers State should start in earnest.

A statement issued Wednesday in Abuja by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, said the president had already approved several actions to fast-track the long delayed implementation of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) Report on the environmental restoration of Ogoniland.

He said the president  approved some recommendations made to him by the Executive Director of UNEP, the UNEP Special Representative for Ogoniland, Permanent Secretaries of the Federal Ministries of Environment and Petroleum Resources, among other stakeholders. One of the actions approved by President Buhari is the amendment of the Official Gazette establishing the Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP) to reflect a new governance framework comprising a governing council, a board of trustees and project management.

The president further approved that the HYPREP governing council should be composed of one representative each from the Ministry of Petroleum Resources,
Federal Ministry of Environment, Rivers State, oil companies and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

“Following a meeting held on the directive of President Buhari, it was also agreed that a contribution deposit of 10 million United States dollars will be made by stakeholders within 30 days of the appointment of members of the  board of trustees for the  trust fund who will be responsible for collecting and managing funds from contributors and donors,” the statement added.

Adesina said a new implementation template had also been evolved at the instance of the president, adding that the environmental clean-up of Ogoniland would commence as soon as the president inaugurate  the HYPREP governing council and the board of trustees for the trust fund.

source:ThisDay