How FG Would Spend $1 Billion on Ogoni Land Clean Up

• How FG Would Spend $1 Billion on Ogoni Land Clean Up

The Federal Government has explained how it plans to spend the $1 billion fund set aside for the clean up of Ogoni land, Rivers State.

The Minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed said it had initiated deliberate robust efforts to deploy men, money and materials towards re-mediating the Ogoniland in line with global best practices of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Mohammed, represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Bukar Hassan, at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) sub regional workshop on Chemical Information Exchange Network in Abuja yesterday, urged UNEP to get closer to government by establishing an office in Nigeria in order to effective implement its programmes.

“The Federal Government has deployed men, money and materials towards re-mediating Ogoni land, in line with the UNEP Ogoni Clean up report and global best practices,” Mohammed said.

According to the minister, this forum would foster cross-fertilisation of ideas on best practices and policies that will enable the sub-region concertedly address its wide range of environmental issues, through knowledge management and information exchange.

Mohammed also said it was a fact that air, water, land, flora and fauna form the bedrock upon which human sustainability and ecosystem services are anchored, and it can safeguard and conserve the resourcesl.

She said: “We would re-echo the Africa Group’s Regional Statement at second United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-2) that emphasized the need for strengthening UNEP’s strategic regional presence in Africa to support member states and ensure the implementation of the 2030 agenda in an integrated manner.