Senate expressed displeasure over Ogoni cleanup despite $360m provision

The Nigerian Senate has expressed disappointment over the slow pace of work on the Ogoniland cleanup project despite the $360m released for it.

The Committee on Environment, through its Chairman, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, stated this at an investigative hearing.

Ekweremadu lamented that no single site out of the 65 contaminated sites marked for the cleanup was certified “clean” two years after the exercise started.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of Ogoniland Board of Trustees, Olawale Edun, had told the panel that $360m was in the purse of the BoT out of which $43m had been released to the Hydrocarbon Pollution Environment Project, the agency set up to supervise the cleanup.

The Project Coordinator, Dr. Marvin Dekil, also confirmed receipt and that money was not the challenge.