A community-based group, the Ogoni Environment Watch (OEW) Initiative, has said President Muhammadu Buhari has proven the genuineness of his love for the people of Ogoni ethnic nationality in Rivers State by appointing Professor Nenibarini Zabbey the project coordinator of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP).
The group said the ground breaking ceremony for three people-oriented projects in Ogoniland also demonstrated that Buhari cares for the ethnic group.
The three multi-billion naira projects are the Centre for Excellence, the 100-bed Ogoni Mega Specialist Hospital and the Ogoni Power Project.
In a statement made available to LEADERSHIP in Port Harcourt yesterday, the group said Zabbey’s appointment as HYPREP project coordinator further demonstrates Buhari’s genuine commitment towards ensuring the speedy actualisation of the Ogoni clean-up project.
The statement, which was signed by the group’s convener, Dae Steve Deegbara, commended the minister of environment, Mohammed Hassan Abdullahi, for recommending an accomplished Ogoni son to the president for appointment as HYPREP coordinator.
Deegbara said, “The worrisome slow-pace of the Ogoni clean-up exercise since it was inaugurated in 2016, about seven years ago by President Buhari, despite federal government’s committing of humongous funds to HYPREP over time, the failure of the project had been largely dependent on bad leadership and ineffectiveness of the handlers of the programme, particularly by those previously managing the clean-up exercise at the project coordination office.”
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