Professor Nenibarini Zabbey, Project Coordinator of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation (HYPREP), yesterday, at the PCO, played host to two high profile visitors, a strong indication of the growing interest the Project has continued to attract both nationally and globally.
The first was Emeritus Professor Olof Linden, a renowned mangrove expert who later alongside Mike Cowing of the Post UNEP team joined the PC on a trip to inspect the HYPREP mangrove site in Bomu, Gokana LGA. It was a reminiscing moment for the PC, as he joined the young fisher folks for fishing. This project is fostering biodiversity recovery in the once degraded shoreline and mangrove areas with over 1.3 million mangroves planted and shoreline works hitting over 38% at date.
In the same vein, the Belgian Ambassador to Nigeria, His Excellency Pieter Leenknegt said the visit was to assess the level of progress made on the Ogoni cleanup programme and then follow up talks on areas of support. Accompanied by the First Secretary of the Embassy of Belgium, Dorien Laewnen, the Belgian ambassador, acknowledged HYPREP’s effort in addressing livelihood and environmental restoration in the Niger Delta together with other intervention, describing it as ”a contemporary approach to caring for biodiversity while also caring for the communities that live with those and making them also custodians of the environment”
Professor Zabbey, maintained that the Project is keen on such partnerships that foster development even as it is contributing to other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs, 1,2,6,13,14,17 and more). He noted that the Project is mobilizing stakeholders towards achieving sustainable cleanup- stakeholders that can be of help to the Project in terms of experience sharing, funding, mobilizing community support etc.
The PC stated that HYPREP is at a critical stage where the various projects are impacting local communities and livelihoods. He intimated the envoy on the various projects HYPREP is carrying out and added that these projects are driven by community people.
He expressed optimism that more jobs will be created with the Project progressing significantly as more projects are to be commissioned this year viz the Centre of Excellence for Environmental Restoration(CEER), Buan and Ogoni Specialist Hospitals and potable water schemes among others.
The visit is coming three days after the visit of the UN Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, His Excellency Mohamed Malik Fall and other UN agencies to HYPREP.
