THE SUN

The Ogoni Development Drive (ODD), has called for the relocation of the headquarters of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) to Ogoniland.

ODD Convener Solomon Lenu, who briefed reporters in Port Harcourt, on the heels of the appointment of the new HYPREP Project Coordinator, said Ogoniland is peaceful to site the headquarters of the agency.

Lenu expressed concern about the excruciating livelihood of the Ogoni people, stressing that the project was primarily for Ogoni ethnic nationality before the entire Niger Delta region.

‘One of the major tasks before the newly appointed project coordinator as he assumes office today (Wednesday), is to immediately relocate the corporate office of HYPREP from Port Harcourt back to Bori, the traditional headquarters of the Ogoni people because Ogoni is at peace today,’ he stated.

‘There is no conceivable justification for which HYPREP will be paying the humongous rent they pay here in the city; while this office can actually be cited in Bori, and together with it will come an additional layer of security and economic boost to the land.

‘This project was for the Ogoni people first, and then, for the Niger Delta people at large, and this reason UNEP made no mistakes in recommending that this pilot scheme be done in Ogoniland where the people had suffered the highest level of environmental atrocities and economic oppression.’

The Ogoni group also urged the Ministry of Environment to be courageous in probing financial misappropriation in HYPREP and redeploy various heads of units in order to reposition the federal agency.

‘We understand that a process to probing the financial incongruity in HYPREP has already begun. We want to urge the Ministry of Environment to find the courage to press on until all misappropriated funds are recovered and those responsible brought to book because only that can serve as a deterrent to save and also put the project on the right track of success. And it is expedient at this point to redeploy all the unit heads, who have served out and overstayed their statutory recommended period in HYPREP.’

He commended President Muhammadu Buhari for appointing a new Project Coordinator of HYPREP, saying that the appointment was a victory for justice, the Ogoni people and the Niger Delta region.