Group Says Ogoni Clean Up Process Is Very Slow

The African Centre for Leadership , Strategy and Development (LSD) has decried the alleged slowness of the Ogoniland cleanup .
Its Acting Executive Director, Monday Ossah , during a quarterly media parley yesterday in Abuja , urged the Federal Government to “ speed up” the remediation of the oil- rich area .
He said: “ No doubt the handing over of 21 sites to contractors is laudable , but our fear is that with the discovery of oil in new locations in the North East , it would further slow down the cleanup currently going on in Ogoni kingdom.
“ Stakeholders should leverage on the commitment made by Mr . President in this year ’s Independence Day speech . The Ogoni cleanup , and indeed the Niger Delta, remain issues of social justice on oil-bearing communities .”
He feared that without tackling the emergencies such as constant water supply and livelihoods of the people, the project might not restore normalcy in the affected communities.
Ossah therefore called on the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP ) to set up a civil society desk for information sharing to keep the populace abreast of the cleanup.
The acting executive director pledged his resoluteness to the championing of the organisation ’s actualisation of the project for the benefit of the people.