The Federal Economic Council-FEC has approved the sum of 129.8 billion naira for various projects in the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, particularly the mandate of the United Nations Environment Programme on Ogoni Clean-up.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, disclosed this to journalists after the Council’s meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the State House, Abuja.
He said the money would cater for the second phase of the Ogoni water project and the central remediation of newly-identified hydrocarbon-impacted sites.
Recall that In August 2011, the United Nations Environment Programme released its Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland.
The report which was inaugurated by and delivered to the Goodluck Jonathan administration made recommendations to the then government, the oil and gas industry and communities to begin a comprehensive cleanup of Ogoniland, restore polluted locations, and end all forms of ongoing oil contamination in the region.
The operation was eventually flagged off in June 2016 by the Vice President with the re-inauguration of the cleanup project and set up Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project HYPREP to oversee the total rehabilitation of the contaminated and polluted sites of Ogoni communities.