. Pledge to unite to hasten exercise
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Stakeholders have commended Abuja for approving $180 million to clean up the Niger Delta and pledged to use the money judiciously and to unite to hasten the exercise.
The federal government approved the money in the third quarter of 2018, and they want it released, saying it “should not be left idle in the ESCROW account”.
Participants at an advocacy workshop on the clean up of Niger Delta agreed to implement the recommendations made at the parley to carry out the project.
The workshop was organised in Abuja by the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development (Centre LSD) with support from Cordaid.
A communique issued at the end of it recommended that companies with the expertise should be contracted for the project to avoid jobs being sold to third parties.
The workshop was attended by 70 participants drawn from government agencies, the Office of the Vice President, Federal Ministry of Environment (FME), National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA).
The attendees also included Hydro Carbon Pollution and Remediation Programme (HYPREP), Niger Delta traditional/community leaders, representatives of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), and the media.
The communique was signed by Suanu Baridam (Ogoni Council of Traditional Rulers Chairman), Celestine Akpobari (Niger Delta activist from Ogoni), Monday Osasah (acting Executive Director, Centre LSD), and Sam Kabari (Centre for Environment, Human Rights & Development).
The workshop participants made the following observations and recommendations:
Observations
1. They commended the federal government and HYPREP for commencing the handover of polluted sites to contractors. They expressed enthusiasm that the contractors will give the project full attention and the speed up the project.
2. Some companies handling the clean up appear not to be on the ground and thus sell contracts, which may undermine the excercise.
3. The clean up, officially flagged-off on June 2, 2016 and managed by HYPREP, has been very slow due to government administrative bottlenecks like the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
4. There are gross misconceptions about the exercise by Ogoni local communities. The entitlement mentality of the people that the money for the project is meant to be shared among them is rampant and problematic.
5. Expectations of some community dwellers of road construction from the clean up are outside the purview, roles and responsibilities of HYPREP.
- The unilateral alteration of the decision reached by the governing council on employment of people from both impacted and unimpacted Ogoni communities by HYPREP is worrisome and may cause chaos.
The governing council decided to use ratio 60:40, for impacted and unimpacted communities, HYPREP decided to use ratio 70:30 without the full knowledge of the people.
- The sensitisation and stakeholders’ engagement strategy adopted by HYPREP seems inadequate to effectively mobilise communities as the approach is not community-driven.
Many community stakeholders and targets reached by HYPREP do not report back to the community, let alone carry them along.
8. Relying solely on threshold prescribed by EGASPIN for the clean up instead of international best practices may not be in the best interest of the project.
9. The use of communication consultants by HYPREP who are paid huge amounts of money is not cost effective. There are local organisations that can effectively mobilise the people with less resources and budget.
10.Since the federal government can take money from the Excess Crude Account to address issues in the North East, it should as well take money from the same source to fund the clean up of the Niger Delta.
Recommendations
1. The government and its organs should promote professionalism and ensure that companies with the requisite capacity, expertise and willingness to work are contracted, so as to avoid jobs being sold to third parties.
1. The Minister of State for Environment should push for the removal of HYPREP from the TSA just as it was when Amina Mohammed was Minister.
- HYPREP should manage the expectations of community members through continuous sensitisation and stakeholders’ engagement to clearly articulate their roles and responsibilities in the clean up.
CSOs should also provide support by mediating between HYPREP and communities.
- HYPREP should be more strategic with its sensitisation and stakeholders’ engagement in communities. It should establish a Central Representative Advisory Council (CRAC) to ensure proper sensitisation.
A feedback mechanism should also be established to get public input.
4. The government should ensure timely release of fund by making approval threshold fluid so that HYPREP can speed up the implementation of its programmes and activities.
- HYPREP should promote peaceful coexistence between it and the community by reverting to the governing council impacted and unimpacted community engagement ratio 60:40 rather than the 70:30 it initiated.
This is to ensure peace, fairness, and justice.
6. Global best practice beyond EGASPIN threshold should be adopted for the Ogoni clean up.
7. Rather than wasting resources to contract communication consultants at prohibitive rates, the government and HYPREP should consider community based organisations with capacity and grassroots appeal, such as MOSOP, to hand the communication aspect of the project.
