As part of our engagement and consultation with stakeholders, we have carried out an advocacy and dialogue meeting with the members of HYPREP Governing Council and Board of Trustee from the Ogoni extraction. The aim of the meeting was to draw the attention of GC and BOT to some of the issues that may be of oversight to them on the entire environmental remediation project in Ogoni.
During the interactive session, other participants made some key demands to the HYPREP Governing Council and Board of Trustee members on the ongoing Cleanup project which includes:
- HYPREP need to develop a Blue Print (Roadmark) for their operation like
Livelihood, Emergency/Remediation. - The CRAC should be made effective for the purpose it was created
- HYPREP should reduce the militarization of its operations in Ogoni and engage the idol youths as a way of job creation for them
- HYPREP should provide a clear marking guide as a tool for Ogoni.
- Their door should be opened to the Ogonis because people are not finding it easy to access HYPREP.
- Independent Project monitoring consultant should be put in place.
- Water as an emergency measure has not been put in place in Ogoni communities; people are still drinking polluted water.
- The Centre of Excellence as recommended by UNEP should be with immediate effect put in place has it will create job opportunities for the Ogoni youth and reduce insecurity in the land.
- Health issue is another challenge for the people of Ogoni and as a result, HYPREP Should build good hospital to meet up their health Challenges, and many others.
- The issue of re-pollution by the activities of the cleanup contractors should be address in many communities in Ogoni
- GC and BOT should have remediation expert that will advise them on every phase of the cleanup
- The issue of regulatory threshold given to contractors should be look into as they are not following the national regulatory standard.
- GC and BOT should engage with NOSDRA for proper regulation on the Ogoni
cleanup. The GC and BOT in their response said that it is obvious that 99% of them are new in the HYPREP Council and Board; however, they have taken note of the issues raised. They said Kallop Centre and Kebetkache women should call for a larger meeting where every member of the GC and BOT of HYPREP from other parts of Nigeria will participate and these issues
should also be raised as a serious concern to the Ogoni people. They further thanks the Kallop and Kebetkache for the engagement and advice that all the issues should be documented for advocacy purposes.
The GC and BOT at the end thank IANRA partners in Nigeria and promise that they will undergo training on the phases of the cleanup and also organize site visits as a way of monitoring work progress on the Ogoni cleanup process.
