Sunday, July 14, 2024 - A non-governmental organisation in Nigeria, the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre has called for calm and acceptance of Dr. Olufemi Adekanmbi, a non-Ogoni, as the Project Coordinator of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project.
according to Punch Online, the executive director of the NGO, Dumnamene Fyneface, made this call
in Port Harcourt on Sunday.
This was in response to President Bola
Tinubu’s approval of the appointment of Dr. Adekanmbi, a Yoruba man from Ondo
State, as the head of HYPREP, the agency under the Federal Ministry of
Environment overseeing the Ogoni Clean-up project.
Fyneface noted that the foundation for such
an occurrence was laid by ex-president Goodluck Jonathan, urging that no blame
should be placed on President Tinubu.
The statement reads in part, “No one should
blame President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, for the appointment of a non-Ogoni as
HYPREP Coordinator.
“Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, a
Niger Deltan, laid the foundation in 2012 by refusing to establish an Ogoni
Environmental Restoration Authority (OERA), as recommended by the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in the Ogoni Environmental Assessment
Report, 2011, and instead opted to establish HYPREP, then known as the
Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project, as a national clean-up agency.
“Besides, the restructuring of HYPREP on
December 8, 2016, with the creation of the Board of Trustees, Governing
Council, and Project Coordination Office as contained in the HYPREP
Establishment Official Gazette No.
“176, Volume 103, Government Notice No.
164, also paved the way for the inclusion of other Nigerians in the various
organs; thus, any Nigerian can head HYPREP, and the organization was not
surprised when President Bola Tinubu, GCFR, on Saturday, July 13, appointed Dr.
Olufemi Adekanmbi, a Yoruba man from Ondo State, as the first non-Ogoni
substantive Project Coordinator of HYPREP after Prof. Philip Shekolo, another
non-Ogoni who had previously served as interim Project Coordinator of HYPREP.”
The group cautioned against attaching ethnic
colourations to the appointment of Dr Adekanmbi, noting that he is also a Niger
Deltan.
HYPREP is a federal cleanup project
established by former President Jonathan, which allows for the appointment of
its coordinator from any part of the country, similar to other Ogonis appointed
to other federal agencies, past or present.
The group’s executive director, who is also
an environmental justice activist, further recalled that in May 2023, while
thanking ex-President Muhammadu Buhari for the appointment of Prof. Ninibarini
Zabbey as the project coordinator, he condemned the frequent change of
leadership in HYPREP.
He warned that Prof. Zabbey might be the
last Ogoni project coordinator of HYPREP, as many Ogonis are known to fight
their kinsmen appointed as HYPREP project coordinators, especially with the
plethora of court cases negatively impacting the smooth implementation of the
project by slowing down the cleanup exercise.
He extended his congratulations to Dr
Adekanmbi on his appointment and urged Ogonis to embrace and assist him and his
team in their contribution to the Ogoni cleanup project.
0 Comments