Oil Producers Not Meeting UNEP’s $1bn Funding Benchmark for Ogoni Cleanup, Trustee Warns 

Oil producing companies are falling short of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)’s target of raising $1 billion for the long-delayed cleanup of Ogoniland, the trustee overseeing the fund warned on Tuesday.

Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Ogoni Trust Fund Incorporated, Rt Hon. Emmanuel Deeyah, on Tuesday warned that oil producers have failed to meet the UNEP. recommended funding benchmark of US$1 billion every five years for cleaning up Ogoni land.

Speaking at a conference on donor facilitation and diplomatic support engagement for Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), Deeyah said the shortfall threatens completion of vital remediation works and the operation of the nearly finished Centre of Excellence for Environmental Restoration.

“The UNEP report proposed US$1 billion every five years. That target has not been met,” Deeyah told delegates.

He said local refineries and operators had not contributed as expected and that domestic budgets alone cannot cover the long‑term cost of restoring polluted land, groundwater and fisheries or of sustaining community services.

Deeyah urged the international community, multilateral lenders, philanthropic organisations and commercial banks to step in with predictable, multi‑year financing. He assured potential donors that the trust fund and HYPREP governance structures will manage contributions prudently and according to international best practice.

“The Centre of Excellence is ready, but buildings do not operate without equipment, staff and sustained funding,” he said, adding that investments will be tracked and used transparently to deliver measurable outcomes for affected communities.

Deeyah recalled the history behind the UNEP assessment, which documented extensive environmental damage in Ogoni land and laid out a long‑term financing plan. He said the fulfilment of that funding benchmark was essential not only to complete soil and water remediation but also to support health, water supply and livelihood programmes that reduce tensions and promote stability.

At the conference, organisers urged donors to link funds to milestone‑based implementation and independent monitoring to ensure accountability.

Deeyah said such arrangements would reassure contributors and help translate funding into visible results on the ground.

Giving a highlights of HYPREP ‘s achievements in the last 10 years, the project coordinator Prof. Nenibarini Zabbey, major progress has been made in the Ogoni cleanup with gains in jobs, skills, water supply, health, infrastructure and environmental restoration.

Zabbey said the initiative is being driven by a human-centered model aimed at restoring livelihoods while cleaning up oil-polluted communities.

According to him, the project has created 7,000 direct jobs and trained more than 5,000 Ogoni youths and women in 21 skill areas, with start-up kits provided to beneficiaries.

He added that HYPREP has also trained 160 people in mangrove nursery management, and that they have gone on to train hundreds more in their communities, expanding local capacity for restoration work.

He said HYPREP has also expanded access to potable water, with 15 functional water stations and five wind- and solar-powered systems serving about 50 communities, while 25 more headworks and seven booster stations are under construction. On health, he said the project has strengthened four health facilities, donated five ambulances, completed a 43-bed cottage hospital, and is developing the Ogoni Specialist Hospital, which he said will include an oncology unit for cancer screening and treatment.

According to Zabbey, remediation work has continued across contaminated sites, with 30 of 65 identified sites closed out, 17 medium-risk sites under remediation and 18 high-risk sites being characterised. He also said phase one of the shoreline cleanup has reached 79.5 percent completion, with 1,270 hectares already recovered and large volumes of oily sludge and solid hydrocarbon waste removed from the creeks.

Zabbey said HYPREP has completed phase one mangrove restoration on 560 hectares and planted more than 1.5 million seedlings, while phase two will cover 438 hectares and include 1.9 million seedlings.

He added that the project’s broader goal is to create a model for environmental restoration and sustainable development that can be replicated in other oil-impacted communities in Nigeria and beyond.