Buhari sets up governing council, board of trustees for Ogoni clean-up

Two months after the ceremonial kick-off of the Ogoni clean-up, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the composition of a governing council and board of trustees to oversee the take-off of the actual clean up.

The setting up of the governing council and board of trustees is a key element of the governance structure required for the clean-up of Ogoniland, a statement by the Ministry of Environment stated.

The clean-up of the heavily polluted Ogoni land was recommended by the United Nation Environmental Programme, UNEP, in its report in 2011. According to the UNEP, the clean-up will take 30 years to complete and cost the government and other stakeholders $1 billion.

According to Aisha Mohammed, Nigeria’s Minister of Environment, President Buhari approved the inauguration of a 13-member governing council and a 10-member board of trustees. She added that the constitution of the governing council and board of trustees will ensure that the process of the clean-up in transparent, accountable and sustainable.

“We ask for patience as we lay solid foundations for the clean-up. The context is complex and stakeholders are diverse. All must be taken along. His excellency, President Buhari remains steadfast in his conviction to see Ogoniland and other parts of the Niger Delta cleaned up.

“My team at the federal Ministry of Environment is actively working collaboratively with Ministries of Petroleum Resources, Niger Delta, NDDC and key stakeholders to see that the promise of His Excellency is kept and we stay clean after the clean up,” she said in a statement.

The minister also called on communities in the Niger Delta, especially in Ogoni, to join hands with the government and other stakeholders involved in the clean-up.