A coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Rivers State has condemned a recent protest staged against the current leadership of Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) over the clean-up of Ogoni land.
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The coalition made the condemnation during a media briefing in Port Harcourt yesterday.
They alleged that recently Muekara Monday, who claimed he was acting under the aegis of Ogoni CSOs, rented a crowd and held a protest march in Abuja, casting aspersion on HYPREP and its Coordinator and threatening more protests on a spurious allegation of non-performance by HYPREP.
Executive Director of Rainbow Watch and Development Centre, Mike Gbarale, who spoke on behalf of the coalition, described the protest as a sponsored campaign of calumny targeted at the project coordinator of HYPREP, Professor Nenibarini Zabbey.
The coalition included Society for Women and Youth Affairs (SWAYA); Centre for Gender Equity and Development; Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre; Lekeh Development Foundation; Pius Dukor Foundation; Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development; Rainbow Watch and Development Centre; Miideekor; Environmental Rights Action (ERA); and Defence for Human Rights and Democracy (DHRD).
They declared a vote of confidence on the current leadership of HYPREP.
The coalition stated that CSOs were not against any group that wanted to investigate HYPREP’s operations. But it said it would not support any faceless group that wanted to hide under the platform of CSOs to criticise government activities for selfish interest.
Gbarale stated that any unjust attack on HYPREP was an attack on Ogoni people. He acknowledged credible clean-up achievements recorded by the current leadership of HYPREP.
The coalition stressed that as groups, which had been deeply involved in the Ogoni and Niger Delta struggles that resulted in the establishment of HYPREP, and as groups that had known HYPREP long before the emergence of Zabbey as its coordinator, “We have considered it necessary to voice our position on this issue, bordering on the performance of Professor Zabbey as HYPREP Coordinator and the fate of HYPREP in his hands.”
They urged the government and members of the public to discountenance the unsubstantiated allegations.
The coalition stated, “The intention of this media briefing is not to join issues with the career protesters whose motive seems to be to blackmail the project coordinator to extort money from him.
“Our intentions are to dissociate ourselves from the faceless group and its campaign of calumny and urge the public to discountenance their meaningless claims; to encourage Zabbey to remain focused and refuse to be distracted by any detractor; to correct the wrong impression that HYPREP under Zabbey is a failure.”
The groups said HYPREP might not have fully achieved its mandate, but given the extent of damage to the Ogoni environment, the recovery of the environment could not realistically be fully achieved within three years.
The coalition said, “The UNEP Report, which recommends HYPREP be implemented, even stated that it would take over 20 years for remediation and clean-up to be completed.
“The clean-up is a complicated assignment, which the smear campaigners obviously do not understand. It involves cleaning contaminated soil, groundwater, creeks, mangroves, and shorelines across communities.
“Therefore, any fair and unbiased assessment of the project under Prof. Zabbey cannot find any justification to dismiss his efforts as a failure.”
Speaking during the briefing, also, Executive Director of Lekeh Development Foundation, Friday Nbani, said, “Any attack on HYPREP is an attack on Ogoni people. This is the hope of restoration, of remediation, of bringing back the loss and damage that we have suffered in Ogoni and I want to make it very clear, HYPREP is very close to us.
“I want to advise my brothers and sisters of Ogoni, enough is enough. We must not be fighting ourselves.
“We still have a lot to go for. The world is talking about loss and damage funds. The fund in that loss and damage fund is enough to restore Niger Delta.”
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