Sadly, the multinational oil companies have proved to be more interested in milking the land of its oil than they are in taking care of the environment that hosts the oil.

The black substance is too much in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria that it has left some parts of the region with no arable farmland as oil has destroyed the fertility of the soil and there's no respite for their water too as oil spillage has not just effectively robbed their waters of playing hosts to fishes but also pushed many fishermen into the streets without jobs.

The kind of environmental pollution and degradation that has happened and is happening in that region is heavy. It has caused many social vices when youths in the region took up arms against the government and the multinationals demanding that a reasonable percentage of the oil revenue be reinvested in their region and their youths employed in the oil sector by the multinational companies drilling their oil. It was quite a huge crisis in the region as the Niger Delta militants kidnapped lots of oil workers and almost brought the government to stand still. They only gave in when they were concretely promised by the then government to meet their demands through a programme called Amnesty.

However, the government have done all but cleaned up Ogoniland-another name for the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

Now, Nigeria's new President Rtd. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari last two weeks approved the implementation of the UNEP report on the Clean Up of Ogoniland be in a move to restore the environment of the region.

A statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, read thus, "The actions approved by President

Buhari, based on recommendations to

him by the Executive Director of UNEP,

the UNEP Special Representative for

Ogoniland, Permanent Secretaries of the

Federal Ministries of Environment and

Petroleum Resources, and other

stakeholders, include the amendment of

the Official Gazette establishing the

Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration

Project (HYPREP) to reflect a new

governance framework comprising a

Governing Council, a Board of Trustees

and Project Management.

The President further approved that the

HYPREP Governing Council should be

composed as follows:

Ministry of Petroleum Resources – One

Representative

Federal Ministry of Environment – One

Representative

Impacted States (Rivers) – One

Representative

Oil Companies & NNPC – 4

Representatives

Ogoniland – 2 Representatives

United Nations System – One

Representative

Secretariat – Headed by Project

Manager

He also approved the composition of a

Board of Trustees for the HYPREP Trust

Fund as follows:

Federal Government – One

Representative

NNPC – One Representative

International Oil Companies – One

Representative

Ogoni Land – One Representative

United Nations System – One

Representative

Following a meeting held on the

directive of President Buhari, it was also

agreed that a contribution deposit of $

10 million will be made by stakeholders

within 30 days of the appointment of

members of the Board of Trustees for

the Trust Fund, who will be responsible

for collecting and managing funds from

contributors and donors".

A new implementation measures for the clean up has been developed and it will commence as soon as the President inaugurates the HYPREP governing council and the board of Trustees for the Trust Fund.

This is a great news for the Niger Delta environment as this will go a long way to positively impacting the health of the people and that of the Ogoniland.

This UNEP report which was at the request of the then Nigerian government had been released since 2011 and the fact that the new president is implementing as one of his first actions mean that we can all look forward to better times for the environment in Nigeria.

Photo 1: Newspeakonline.com

Photo 2: Recitbook.com