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PREAMBLE

Stakeholders at a one-day meeting organized by Society for Women and Youths Affairs with the support of Global Green Grant Fund on the 5th September, 2020 at Algate Hotel, Abacha Road, Port Harcourt met to discuss the non-implementation of emergency measures recommended by UNEP in 2009 and formally did a presentation of SWAYA policy brief  on the non-implementation of emergency measures which is one of the outcome of civil society engagement  meeting on the non-implementation of the UNEP’s recommended emergency measures of the ogoni clean-up exercise on Wednesday, February 5, 2020 at #5 Uyo street, Rumuomasi. About 15 participants were drawn from community Representatives, Ogoni Environmental professionals, media and Civil Society Organizations within the Niger Delta.

The objective of the meeting was to engage stakeholders on the non-implementation of recommended emergency measures of UNEP report

Dr Kabari Sam who moderated the meeting took time to explained to participants the essence of the meeting as regards the non-implementation of the emergency measures that was supposed to be the first thing to be done after the development of the strategic plan. Speaking further, he said that the establishment of Integrated Contaminated Soil Management Center should have been a better technology for the remediation and that most contractors handling the remediation project do not have the required technical capacities for remediation. He cited an example of how some contractors are evaporating hydrocarbon into the environment using the biocell technology.

He thereafter called on participants to come up with their respective perspectives that will make the project succeed.

Speaking on the clean-up exercise, the Executive Director of ACIRD, Young Kigbara frowned at the manner the clean-up process is been handled by the intervention agency, HYPREP. He pointed out that the kind of livelihood project commissioned at his home town, Korokoro Tai as an empower program for young people is obsolete and not acceptable. He called of stakeholders to come together strategically with plans that can be used for engagement with key stakeholders in the process.

The Executive Director of Pius Dukor Foundation, Pius Dukor lamented how the clean-up process will turn to be a curse instead of blessing if something urgent is not done about it with the way things are going on in the system. He opined that HYPREP must be made a legal entity through legal frame and that stakeholders must take up the legislative advocacy in order to achieve that.

Also speaking, Nelly Umoren drew the attention of participants to the gender imbalance in the employment process by contractors handling jobs. She said that you barely see women on some clean-up sites while you see one or two engaged as nurses. She argued that women can also do technical jobs on sites and must not be made petty in the process.

The Executive Director of SWAYA, Stella Amanie formally presented developed policy brief by her organization to be used for engagement with key stakeholders especially in the area of the non-implementation of emergency measures and called on all stakeholders present to own up the document.

After much discussions, two groups were put together to come up with specific engagement responsibilities for respective stakeholders that shall engage with other critical stakeholders on the clean up process.

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