The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and its Joint Venture Partners of Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, Total Exploration and Production of Nigeria, TEPNG, and Nigerian Agip Oil Company, NAOC, have disbursed $360 million of  the $1 billion recommended towards the Ogoniland Clean-Up project by the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP.

This was disclosure during a presentation to the House of Representatives Committee on Environment and Habitat at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja, on Monday, February 17, 2020.

According to UNEP report, the estimation had initially been over $1 billion for the first five years in the 25 to 30 years cycle.

Addressing the relevant House of Representatives committee, the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mele Kyari, who was represented by  Roland Ewubare, NNPC Chief Operating Officer, Upstream, said funding was not a challenge to the project, stressing that the national oil firm and its JV partners were up to date in their financial commitments to the course.

READ ALSO:Huawei Unveils digital IOT Solution for Nigeria’s Oil Sector

“Ogoni clean-up is a massive issue and NNPC and its JV partners are ready to fund the project as prescribed by the UNEP Report. We have so far disbursed $360million out of the $900million recommended. The disbursement was based on the standards set which required that we release funds based on the implementation parameters of the clean-up exercise,” Kyari said.

He noted that though NNPC and its JV partners were not responsible for the implementation of the clean-up, all stakeholders must come together to ensure that the project was carried out successfully.

Kyari added that the implementation of the clean-up was very important as the exercise would enable the restoration of land, water and the economic well-being of the people in the area.

He decried the misinformation about the Ogoniland clean-up and urged the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project, HYPREP, to ensure that the narrative was corrected for the effective implementation of the project.

Aishatu Jibrin Dukku, member of the House Committee, who was a former minister of environment,  applauded the NNPC and its JV partners for their commitment to the Ogoni clean-up project and urged all other stakeholders to join hands with HYPREP to ensure the successful clean-up of the area.

In his remarks, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Environment and Habitat, Hon. Johnson Oghuma, expressed the commitment of the current leadership to ensure full implementation of the UNEP Report on Ogoniland for the common good of the people of the area.

It would be recalled that the UNEP Report on Ogoniland clean-up had estimated an initial clean-up costs of over $1 billion for the first five years of a 25 to 30-year process.

Yetunde Adegoke