The Projects Coordinator of the Hydrocarbon Pollution and Remediation Project (HYPREP), Dr. Ferdinand Giadom has told youths of Ogoni that the project did not arise from the singular effort of any individual or group, but the collective effort of all Ogonis.
He said they should make it their own by engaging management with constructive ideas that would fast track the realization of the objectives of its establishment.
Speaking during an interactive session with Ogoni Youths at the Autograph Events Centre, along Abacha Road in Port Harcourt on Friday, Dr. Giadom acknowledged that the Ogoni struggle was a collective effort that birthed the project, aimed at remediating the devastated Ogoni environment.
He told the youths that it was because he had not communicated much with the them since his assumption of office, that he invited them for interaction and to also present his score card.
Dr. Giadom said he was also not unaware of agitations by section of the youths who feel not being carried along in the scheme of things, but however assured that their issues would not be ignored, even as he craved their understanding, as he was barely three months on the seat.
The Projects Coordinator informed the youths that HYPREP was set up primarily to remediate, clean up and restore the impacted lands of Ogoni, following the compromise of the environment by government and oil prospecting firms.
The HYPREP Coordinator said Ogonis however remain grateful to the federal government for being used as pilot scheme, as other communities in the Niger Delta are also impacted.
Dr. Giadom while also regretting the social and psychological impact of pollution in making the people agitated, brought the cheery news of federal government’s efforts to link all Ogoni communities to the national grid.
“Aside plans to ascertain the health status of Ogoni people and attend to them medically, Ogoni electrical engineers would soon be mobilized for training for a project in the communities”, he said, and enjoined qualified persons to take advantage of the opportunity.
In his submission at the event, the President General of Ogoni Youths Federation, Comrade Legborsi Yaabana frowned at what he saw as ‘teleguiding the youths’, adding that the program should have held in Ogoniland where the cleanup is being carried out, and not Port Harcourt.
He said the program should be for all Ogoni youths that are interested and not for what he called ‘a select few’.
He however, urged the board of HYPREP to make hey while the sun shines, stressing that the right things must be done, since Dr. Giadom was part of the scientific team that recommended the establishment of HYPREP.
Also speaking, the President, National Youths Council of Ogoni People (NYCOP), Comrade Barinuazo Emmanuel commended the Projects Coordinator for inviting the youths for interaction, and wondered why the remediation that was billed for five years, has dragged to seven, leaving only one year for the expiration of the current administration.
“The program was supposed to run for thirty years. Five years for remediation, and twenty five years for restoration.
“But seven years after, they’re still in only one location, doing remediation. At this pace, the program may take fifty years, and that’s not what Ogonis want”, he said and urged the team to do the needful.
