THE OGONI CLEANUP

FG, partners release $30m for Ogoni clean-up

THE Federal Government and its joint venture partners have so far released $30m for the clean-up of oil-polluted sites of Ogoniland in Rivers State.

It was gathered that about 70 percent of the less complex polluted sites had been remediated, as the released fund was currently being used for the exercise.

The Project Coordinator, Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project, under the Federal Ministry of Environment, Marvin Dekil, told journalists in Abuja on Thursday that 57 contractors were working on various contaminated sites in the region.

The Federal Government and JV partners had agreed to provide funding for the clean-up of Ogoniland as recommended in the UNEP report.

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Speaking on the utilization of funds for the exercise, Dekil said, “Initially, N1bn was recommended and that money was raised in this administration. Now, the money is given at $200,000 yearly, which is meant to start from when we started in 2017.

“However, that they are giving you $200,000 yearly does not mean that you will spend all of it, rather the funds are all tied to various clean-up activities.”

 Asked how much has been spent so far from the fund, he replied, “What has been released to this point for the activities that we are currently doing is about $30m.”