Buhari to personally launch clean-up of Ogoniland in Niger Delta over the coming weeks

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has announced plans to launch the cleanup of Ogoniland over the coming weeks as part of a major Niger Delta redevelopment plan aimed at resuscitating the economy of the region.

 

Seen as vital to arrest the possibility of renewed militancy ion the region, cleaning up the soil spills in the area is regarded as vital to economic regeneration and reviving traditional industries like fishing. Environment minister Hajiya Amina Mohammed told Rivers State governor Nyesom Wike that President Buhari would personally come to Ogoniland to launch the clean-up programme.

 

Hajiya Mohammed said: “It is hoped that we will have this launch in the coming weeks and the president himself will launch the cleanup. It is really to us a turning point in the history of the struggle and Ogoniland is the first place where action needs to be.

 

 “There is a wide challenge of pollution in the Niger Delta, so we are here to begin activities toward the launch of the cleanup with stakeholders’ dialogue. We are beginning in Rivers because this is the home of the struggle but we know it is wider."

 

According to the minister the cleanup of the Ogoniland could take between 25 and 30 years to be completed. However, Governor Wike advised the federal government that to achieve success, the cleanup must not be politicised as there were diverse interests.

 

Governor Wike added:  “It doesn’t matter the political party that anybody belongs to as environmental issues do not affect a political party but the entire state and the entire Niger Delta as a whole. Communities do not know about political parties, what communities know is about how to survive.

 

“So, I will advice that we approach it in such way that it does not look political, particularly in Ogoniland as it is a very complex place and you have to be extremely careful. Because if you are not careful you may not achieve what you want you intend to achieve.’’

 

However, Governor Wike assured the minister that the state government would give all the necessary support to ensure the success of the cleanup, adding no government would be happy to see Ogoniland in its present state. He said he was interested in whatever affects Rivers State and the entire Niger Delta that had to do environmental pollution and other issues.

 

According to the governor, it partly has to do with oil exploration that has left so many communities without potable water. He added that so many farming communities can no longer go to farm and those who dwell on fishing can no longer fish because of oil pollution.