Nigeria to Commence Ogoni Land Clean-Upby | 02-06-2016 08:28 |
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 It is here. The die is cast and the long-awaited moment is finally here. The biggest news in Nigeria now is the Clean-up of the heavily polluted Ogoni land in the Niger Delta region of the country. The Niger-Delta region of Nigeria is the oil producing region of the country and this has left their land polluted and with little or no support for life. Oil spillage had long taken over the land and the ones booming fish population now almost extinct. The people of Ogoni have not just lost their livelihood but also have no single drinkable water in the community. Almost everything in Ogoni is polluted and the people have lived this way for years, facing the expected health hazards too. The UNEP had in 2011 released a report on Ogoni land which the Nigerian government at that time initiated and UNEP's recommendation was a quick clean-up of Ogoni land. The government wasn't able to implement recommendations of the report. However, during his election campaign last year, President Muhammadu Buhari, promised the people of Niger Delta that he will ensure the clean-up of Ogoni land if elected and all is set for that action to be flag off later today by the president. The minister for environment, Her Excellency, Amina Mohammed, has since been in Ogoni ahead of the president's arrival stating that the government will not just clean-up Ogoni land and return its ecosystem to what it used to be, but will also seek to achieve security of the region and build up her economy through this action. The minister regretted that the once flourishing fish pond set up by the Nigerian president in 1984 has been destroyed by oil pollution. The clean-up is to cost about $1 billion and will take an estimated 25 to 30 years for full completion. It is all joy for the Niger-Deltans but the worry is, what will be the fate of the project when the current government leaves power? This is the crux of the matter. For the meantime, Niger-Deltans are celebrating. Photo by: Premium Times
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