BEVERLY HILLS, March 04, (THEWILL) – The Federal Government has explained why the clean-up of Ogoni land in Rivers State is being delayed.
The Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project, according to the Federal Government has been hampered by disputed land in some of the affected communities.
It however said 15 polluted sites have been cleaned up since the project started in 2016.
Minister of the Environment, Muhammad Mahmoud, made this know while answering questions from State House correspondents at the end of the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Mahmoud said, “We have these hiccups from the beginning and maybe also we have issues in the area, because there are some issues with the land; maybe communities that are in dispute or not allowing access as they should and all that stuff.
“These are really some of the reasons (for the delay) but I tell you that we have awarded additional contracts of about 36 sites, but it took us about five to six months to even access some of the sites that have already been contracted out because, some communities are in dispute and will not let us go into the land to even commence the cleaned up.
“It was just recently, not more than three months ago, that we were able to get them to understand that we are not there for land dispute, but for clean-up; and once we get the clean-up done, whoever get the land, gets a clean land.”
The Minister, however, said that the FEC approved N6.048bn for the provision of potable water in the four local government areas of Ogoni land –Gokana, Khana, Eleme and Tai.
