14 months after the cleanup project of Ogoni land embarked upon by the Nigerian government, and recommended by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), stakeholders appear disillusioned at the slow pace of work. Although the government has put up some structures like a Governing Council, Board of Trustees, Technical Committee and other panels in place, to oversee the process that will lead to the clean-up, experts opine that it may take up to 30 years for the exercise to be completed.
Th e Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), perhaps out of frustration with the process, attacked Shell recently, accusing the company of not showing enough willingness to be part of the clean-up exercise, according to a report by NAN. MOSOP President, Legbosi Piagbara, told journalists in Port Harcourt on Wednesday that Shell was refusing to pay its shares of the counterpart funding for the clean-up. Mr. Piagbara said Shell had not paid the $200 million which the company was expected to pay annually into the clean-up trust fund. He said that the clean-up would not be realisable without Shell fulfi lling its part of the funding plan. Mr. Piagbara said a $10 million take-off fund paid by Shell for the clean-up exercise was not enough. “Th e agreement is an annual payment of $200 million for the clean-up, (and) as we speak, Shell cannot say it has paid such money. Shell has not lived up to the agreement; we are expecting it to pay its share of the funding so that eff orts on the project will become visible,” he said. Shell, however in a statement posted on its website, said that it remained committed to the clean-up of Ogoni. “SPDC JV is committed to the implementation of the UNEP Report and welcomes FGN eff orts to progress its implementation, including the creation of Governing Council (GC) and Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Ogoni Restoration Fund (ORF) in Aug 2016 to oversee and fund the clean-up process,” the statement said.
