Intervention Of UNEP In Ogoni And The Management Of Its Report

The United Nations Environmental Project (UNEP) is one agency of the United Nations, UN, which has shown commitment in making sure that the environmental degradation caused by multinational oil companies in Ogoni is resolved, not minding that it was seemingly partly salaried for by the Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, after a request by the government, to investigate the extent of pollution in the region.

The international organization presented its report adjudged as the most detailed scientific study on any area in the Niger Delta to President Goodluck Jonathan on August 4, 2011 in which it criticized SPDC and the Nigerian government for contributing to 50 years of pollution in Ogoni-land. According to experts, the report of UNEP said 10 out of the 15 examined sites which SPDC said it had wholly remediated still had pollution above the SPDC and government remediation charges.

Legborsi Saro Pyagbara, President for Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, MOSOP, had decried that in Ogoni-land people were dying daily and were still drinking polluted water, because the clean-up has not been done. Tailored towards the environmental restoration in Ogoni, UNEP confirmed in its report that Ogoni people were not telling lies: That neglect of environmental pollution laws and sub-standard inspection techniques of the federal authorities have led to the complete degradation of the Ogoni environment, turning the environment into an ecological disaster.

Therefore, UNEP held that one billion dollars should be spent to clean-up Ogoni. This was sequel to the recommendations it made to the federal government. They include: Establishment of HYPEP governance structure, creation of operational guidelines, preparation of a detailed work plan and implementation of certain emergency measures to ensure a seamless transition from the submission of the report to the commencement of full scale cleanup of hydrocarbon contamination.

The intervention of the UNEP has saved the region from the damning neglect it has suffered over forty years and brought the attention of the world to the area and keeps the Federal Government and the oil multinationals in quandary of the perils the region has suffered because of their nefarious activities in the land. The report has made the world to truly understand that the once supported productive farming lands the people enjoyed, fishing and related activities are all damaged by the incessant pollutions that were being experienced in the area, which had compelled the people to gumboot SPDC out of the place 21 years ago.

Before the UNEP intervened and calmed down the fraying nerves of Ogoni people with its report, heads had already rolled in the terra firma since the late 1980s the people alarmed that their place was being destroyed by the oil companies. Ken Saro-Wiwa and others called today as Ogoni-4 and Ogoni-9 were killed in the struggle and many others are unsung. Hence, with the Ogoni Bill of Rights of 1990 they chronicled their requirement for environmental, socio-economic and political justice, observers could note. Although, the source continued, the Bill of Rights was presented to the Nigerian government and, till date, there has not been a murmur by way of reaction to, or commitment with, the document.

While the UNEP demands that One Billion Dollars should be expended by the Federal Government to clean-up the mess that Ogoni has become in the hands of the oil companies, One Hundred Billion Dollars was demanded to clean-up the entire Niger Delta region, which has been suffering environmental and oil pollutions since 1958 that crude oil was explored in the zone. When UNEP entered Ogoni, it found out that 'what the people took as potable water had carcinogens, such as benzene, up to 900 times above World Health Organisation standards.' The report also revealed that at some places in Ogoniland, 'the soil is polluted with hydrocarbons to a depth of five (5) metres.'

Investigation revealed that the report of UNEP exposed that the Ogoni native soil had certainly been turned into an 'ecological disaster,' as the Bill of Rights had declared. In the Bill of Rights, which became the memorandum the Ogoni people reposed on, which later inspired the entire Niger Delta to create comparable charters as a nonviolent way of nudging the government into discussion and deed, stated on its menu inter alia that the search for oil has caused severe land and food shortages in Ogoni.

Ogoni is one of the most densely populated areas of Africa (average: 1,500 per square mile; national average: 300 per square mile.) that neglectful environmental pollution laws and sub-standard inspection techniques of the Federal authorities have led to complete degradation of its environment, turning Ogoni people's homeland into an ecological disaster. Ogoni people lack education, health and other social facilities, which is intolerable that one of the richest areas of Nigeria should wallow in abject poverty and destitution, the Bill of Rights recorded.

Ripples
According to a source, one Nnimmo Bassey, a native of the Niger Delta, had believed since the report of UNEP that it was not too late for President Goodluck Jonathan to: Declare Ogoni land an ecological disaster zone and invest resources to tackle the deep environmental disaster there, provide potable drinking water across Ogoni land, commission an assessment of the entire Niger Delta environment But these things seem a tall dream for the Federal Government, as there have been accusations and counter accusations by the bodies involved in the menaces in Ogoni land. Recently, SPDC alleged that the Federal Government was stalling the UNEP's recommendation of $1bn for the clean-up of damage oil pollution has done in Ogoniland.

The Federal Government had through the House Committee on Environment gave the petroleum resources ministry a mandate to produce and submit a work plan for the proposed clean-up and the utilization of the funds. In that event, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Danladi Kifasi, and Dr Musa Zagi, GM, health, safety and environment in the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) supposedly assured that the Federal Government was working seriously on the implementation of the UNEP's Report.

Hon. Uche Ekwunife, Chairman of the committee had reportedly expressed disappointment over the non-implementation of the 2011 UNEP's report on Ogoni-land, saying: 'We need a speedy resolution of the issue. We're talking about a spill in Ogoniland that happened so long ago. We will not continue to deal with this matter in this manner. Their water is contaminated, ecosystem is out. The people are living in danger and one out of eight citizens is dying of cancer. UNEP's report says it will take about 30 years to clean-up and if we are still passing bucks after three years, when are we going to complete it?'

A group known as the Laureates of the Right Livelihood Award signed a petition for this matter, during a three day conference in Cairo in the first week of July this year. In the petition the group reportedly called on President Jonathan to implement the recommendations of a 2011 UN report on Ogoni-land. According to the source, the signatories were shocked to find out that three years after the report of UNEP, the Nigerian administration had still not dealt with the appalling situation in Ogoni-land.

Business plan for chemical management
An account by the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, which was disclosed by Premium Times on August 23, 2013, stated that there was a business plan that has been negotiated by the Federal Government and UNEP that will cover from 2014 to 2018.

The document had been said was entitled, 'Business Plan on Priority Needs to Enable Further Strengthening of the Legal and Institutional Infrastructures for Sound Management of Chemicals (SMC) in Nigeria for 2014-2018''.

It was said to have been developed: In line with the UNEP Legal and Institutional Infrastructures for Recovering Cost of National Administration (LIRA) guidance document in response to the commitment of the government.

It was developed for environmentally sound management of chemicals, through a life cycle management approach to chemicals and their waste in Nigeria.

The plan recognizes the Nigerian Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) implementation plan, which signifies Nigeria's commitment towards sound management of chemicals (2011-2016), that was endorsed in March 2011 by relevant national stakeholders.

Odimegwu Onwumere, a Poet/Writer, writes from Rivers State.

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