An oil spill site in Niger Delta

As the planned clean-up exercise of the Ogoni land continues to experience contrived delays, coupled with sustained media reports on the Ogoni drama which has inspired Nigerians and the international community to demand that the Nigerian government go beyond words in the clean up exercise has been commended by concerned grassroots groups and representatives of the impacted people of Ogoniland for their patience in the face of glaring violations, which is tantamount to pushing them to the limits of endurance that has been playing out since the clean-up exercise of Ogoniland was flagged off in June 2016 by the vice president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo.

According to Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) “ We had warned that the exercise lacked some very key ingredients including structures such as the governing council, the Board of Trustees and the management of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) that were expected to drive the clean-up process.”

“We had also expressed worry that while the UNEP ‘Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland’ report had recommended that the government and Shell contribute $1 billion over a five-year period to undertake the clean-up, the government body language did not show it was committed to committing any tangible sum to the process nor compelling Shell to do same”.

“Two years on, we can see that even though we now have a governing council, the polluter was invited to sit in their midst and continues to call the shots and slow the processes. No tangible sum has been committed to the clean up as we speak. Government has not made the required contributions to the clean-up fund save for the $10 million start up fund that it gave to HYPREP to commence its activities smoothly. This is strange to us and the international community that is keen on seeing tangible progress in relieving the Ogoni people of a Shell-imposed burden”, the statement added.