Wike Attacks FG Over Ogoni Cleanup

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has accused the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration of “playing politics” with the Ogoni clean-up project in Ogoniland.

Wike claimed that the federal government had not achieved any tangible milestone since it flagged off the project in 2016.

The governor said until the federal government stops trying to score political points with the cleanup exercise, the programme may never succeed.

He spoke when he received the Minister of Environment, Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar, at the government house in Port Harcourt, the state capital.

Wike urged the Buhari administration to come with the terms for the implementation of the Ogoni clean up exercise as recommended by the UNEP Report.

According to the governor, “no tangible milestone has been achieved” since the federal government flagged off the exercise in 2016.

“I am not happy that the Rivers State Government is not part of the clean up exercise. Nobody has ever briefed the State Government. The programme has been politicised,” Wike said in a statement by his Special Assistant on Electronic Media, Simeon Nwakaudu.

“The only way the programme will work is when we all work together. The programme is not working because they see it as politics. They are using unqualified contractors to execute the project,” he said.

Wike accused the federal government of recycling “same old story” of handing over remediation sites to contractors instead of showing the level of success attained on the project.

“It’s unfortunate that no tangible effort has been achieved. Handing over remediation site to contractors does not mean the work has been done.”

“Since 2016 till date, its the same story because the people are from this part of the country. Its unfortunate. The Federal Government is supposed to come up and say that they have been able to achieve about 30% of the cleanup in Ogoniland.

“What I want to hear is we have achieved about 30%, we have achieved about 40% of the cleanup. The Federal Government should tell the people if they are not ready to clean up of Ogoniland.

“I support the clean up, but the Rivers State Government will not do what it doesn’t know. Also the lack of clean up of Ogoniland is caused by Ogoni sons and daughters because of politics. I challenge Ogoni sons to tell the world if they are satisfied with the cleanup exercise in Ogoniland” he said

The minister of environment had said he was in the state to handover additional thirty-six remediation sites to contractors as part of the cleanup exercise.