The imperative of cleaning up Ogoniland

President Muhammadu Buhari’s action in setting up governance structures to fast-track the long-delayed implementation of the United Nations Environmental Programme Report on the environmental restoration of Ogoniland is very encouraging and re-assuring. This goes to show that his government is committed to the full implementation of the report and ensuring that Ogoniland is cleaned up.

The president had in August approved a number of actions to that effect, including 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. He also approved the composition of a board of trustees for the HYPREP Trust Fund.

Furthermore, a meeting held on the directive of the president also agreed that a contribution deposit of $10 million (N2 billion) would be made by stakeholders within 30 days of the appointment of members of the board of trustees for the Trust Fund, while a new implementation template was also evolved at the instance of President Buhari, with a commitment that the environmental clean-up of Ogoniland would commence in earnest once the HYPREP Governing Council and the Board of Trustees for the Trust Fund are inaugurated.

Over the years, oil production in Ogoniland has led to devastating environmental degradation, with the water so polluted that the indigenes have had to import water from outside the area. Oil production in Ogoni was stopped abruptly in 1993 due to access denial. Facilities were vandalised accompanied with fires and oil spills. Oil theft and illegal oil refining also contributed to the environmental impact.

According to the UNEP report, the government was to undertake responsibility for 50 of the 76 action plans towards the clean-up of Ogoniland, Shell was allotted 22 responsibilities that would lead to a clean environment and remediation, while the Ogoni communities were assigned just four things. These were: take advantage of the opportunity, cooperate with industry, government, grant access and stop activities of illegal bunkering.

The move by President Buhari is a clear departure from the immediate past administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan which set up an agency that was never made to function for one day. With the president leading the initiative, there is also the need for representatives of the Ogoni communities, the Niger Delta, Shell, NGOs and the civil society to collectively contribute to an everlasting peace in the area that would result in a more habitable environment.

It is heartwarming to note that Shell has initiated action to implement all the 22 actions directed by the UNEP report. So far, 16 actions are said to have been completed with just five actions currently ongoing. Part of the ongoing actions includes the relocations of its Right-of-Way (RoW) encroachers and decommissioning of plan. Out of the 470 spill incidents documented along Shell JV Right-of-Way in Ogoniland, 368 have been remediated, while 32 sites are at various stages of remediation with 72 outstanding, and 40 of these sites are located at Bodo which has attracted public attention in the last few months.

The government, the Ogoni communities, as well as other stakeholders must therefore expedite action in fulfilling their own part of the bargain so as to bring back clean environment in Ogoniland and restore peace and stability in the land.

In doing this, the admonition of the UNEP report must be borne in mind. According to the report, treating the problem of environmental contamination within Ogoniland merely as a technical clean-up exercise will ultimately lead to failure. Ensuring long-term sustainability is a much bigger challenge – one that will require coordinated and collaborative action from all stakeholders. This must include putting an end to the widespread pipeline sabotage, crude oil theft and illegal refining that are the main causes of environmental damage in Ogoniland and the wider Niger Delta today.

In the end, action, and not rhetoric, is what is needed in Ogoniland. The stakeholders must therefore match words with action.