The Minister of Environment, Mohammed Abdullahi, has said the Ogoni Cleanup Project would not be completed under the current tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Minister said the remaining time left under the current regime would not be enough.
Abdullahi spoke to State House correspondents after a meeting he had with the President.
The minister noted that the execution was in phases and so far, 10 polluted sites have been cleaned up.
Abdullahi said he briefed the President on how much progress had been made, and the President in turn, directed the ministry to ensure that adequate attention be paid to delivering on the project.
The minister said, “We do not envisage that we can finish the entire project within the lifetime of this government. However, the process that we can do at the moment, the procurement that we can do at the moment, to ensure that there is immediate irrigation, water projects to ensure that there is clean water provided for the people and that other sites, will begin the remediation process.”
The minister said although government is speeding up the process, there are no indications that it would complete all the phases before Buhari hands over next year.
“There is nothing miraculous about our approach to the cleanup operations; it is going to be a very pragmatic, practicable and quick-win solution. First, like I told you earlier, is to ensure that there is a multi-stakeholder agreement in terms of what we’re supposed to do, where we’re going.
“Then secondly, we’ve taken very strong steps to address the concerns bordering on procurement, on project management, on fund management and so on, so that all stakeholders will be on board. So, I can assure you that if these issues are resolved, within the next couple of weeks, we should be focused on immediate procurement processes that will ensure that the projects are implemented as at when due.
“However, they are phased projects, we do not envisage that we can finish the entire project within the lifetime of this government. The process that we can do at the moment, the procurement that we can do at the moment, to ensure that there is immediate irrigation, water projects to ensure that there is clean water provided for the people and that other sites, will begin the remediation process.”
The Ogoni Clean Up Project was commenced as part of a complete enhancement of the Niger Delta area which is under the constant degradation as a result of oil exploration.