Ogoni Clean-up: HYPREP Recruits 500 Youths For Security Surveillance

The Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) has recruited 500 youths for the security surveillance of clean-up sites and other facilities in Ogoniland of Rivers State.

HYPREP project coordinator, Professor Nenibarini Zabbey, disclosed this on Monday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State while speaking at a one-day regional strategy meeting on the ongoing Ogoni clean-up, organised by a civil society organisation, Peoples Advancement Centre (PAC).

Zabbey said: “What we have been doing in the past weeks is to organise think-tanks with our technical support partners, UNEP and Shell, ensuring that we have in place, drawings that fill for purpose, we have in place power project that is fill for purpose.

“So, we have engaged a lot of think-tanks to strengthen that purpose. All of them will happen concurrently with the remediation work in the dryland area and shoreline clean up in the wetland area.

“So, if you put all these together with the recruitment and deployment of 500 youths that will serve as civil surveillance officials because, now, we are migrstini from kinetic approach to security to non-knetic approach.

“We want the local people; we want people to own ever facet of the Ogoni clean-up. So, we have recruited 500 youths and deployed them as civil security, supporting the clean up sites and supporting our facilities.

“So, if you sum up all the workers that will work at different sites and all the activities that will take place concurrently, you will agree with me that Ogoni is going to be beehive of activities.”

In his speech, convener PAC, Celestine Akpobari, wondered why HYPRED had not conduct study on the environment of other states in the Niger Delta region.

Akpobari said: “We have gathered here today brainstorm to see what to get out of a bad situation. Our environment has been written off. What do we do?

“How come that uptill now, HYPREP is even yet to consider where to conduct study in another state? By now, that should be on the table.”