By Chuks Oyema-Aziken
The Director-General, National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, Engr. Chukwuemeka Woke says the agency will continue to collaborate with other stakeholders to achieve the mandate of President Bola Tinubu in the oil and gas sector.
He said this on Tuesday when he received a delegation from the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) in his office in Abuja.
Woke commended the President for the support to make oil producing areas have a better environment, saying NOSDRA and HYPREP have a common goal in that regard.
Speaking, HYPREP Project Coordinator, Professor Nenibarini Zabbey said the collaboration with NOSDRA will accelerate ongoing Ogoni clean up exercise.
He said Ogoni land is already been impacted by HYPREP activities.
He said “We are doing remediation projects. In remediation, we are doing land remediation, shoreline clean-up. We are restoring oil-degraded mangroves.
“We are also providing potable water for the Ogoni people. So we have 14 schemes we are constructing that will reticulate potable water to 68 communities in Ogoni land. We are also strengthening health systems in Ogoni.
“We are building the Ogoni Cottage Hospital. We are building the Ogoni Specialist Hospital. We are also building the Centre of Excellence for Environmental Restoration.”
NOSDRA is the Nigerian Federal Government agency responsible for monitoring and responding to oil spills in Nigeria. NOSDRA acts between oil companies and communities at the local and state level.
HYPREP, under the Federal Ministry of Environment, aims to remediate soil and groundwater contamination in Ogoniland and impacted communities, promoting local capacity building and environmental awareness.