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The Federal Government of Nigeria says final processes for award of contracts for the clean up of Ogoniland will be completed this week.
Recall that the Ogoni area in Rivers State has over the years been destroyed by oil leaks leading to the destruction of surrounding waters and farm lands. A UNEP report after scientific study recommended total clean up of the environment saying the extent of water and enviromental pollution in the Rivers communities was alarming.
Although the report was released during the Goodluck Jonathan administration, in 2011, the administration did little to carry out the clean up.
President Muhammadu Buhari shortly after his assumption of office in 2015 launched the clean up exercise.
The Minister of Environment, Ibrahim Jibril, on Wednesday, however, said his ministry has reached the final stage of procurement processes that will lead to award of contracts to 21 firms so the exercise can finally begin.
Speaking with State House correspondents at the end of the meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), Wednesday, Jibril said the Ministerial Tenders Board of the ministry met on Tuesday to consider the submission of the procurement department of Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project, HYPREP.
He said in all “15 lots were up for grabs”.
Jibril also said the governing council of the Ogoni Trust Fund will meet on Friday to ratify the submissions after which “we hope by the next week, these letters will be out and the contractors will be mobilised to site”.
The minister said five of the 21 lots which are beyond the threshold of the tenders board and the governing council will be forwarded to FEC for approval.
He said the ministry had already written to the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP), asking for a certificate of no objection which may be approved next week.
“So, the next two weeks those five lots will be presented to the Federal Executive Council for approval.
“So I can assure you that we are on course and there is no going back on the Ogoni clean up,” he said.