After the announcement of the commencement of the clean-up exercise of Ogoniland in Rivers State by the Federal Government, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), has surmised that it will take between 25 to 30 years before the natives of the community would enjoy a fresh and clean environment.
According to UNEP, because of the extreme extent of degradation in Ogoniland and neighboring areas, it will take a mixture of different techniques to clean-up the area.
The body reckons that the approaches to be used in the exercise will range from active intervention for cleaning the top soil and replanting mangrove to passive monitoring of natural regeneration for the clean-up.
A report compiled by UNEP on Ogoniland with recommendations on how to execute the crucial assignment said, “The hydraulic connection between contaminated land and creeks has important implications for the sequence of remediation to be carried out. Until the land-based contamination has been dealt with, it will be futile to begin a clean-up of the creeks.”
“Due to the wide extent of contamination in Ogoniland and nearby areas, and the varying degrees of degradation, there will not be one single clean-up technique appropriate for the entire area.”
“A combination of approaches will therefore, need to be considered, ranging from active intervention for cleaning the top soil and replanting mangrove to passive monitoring of natural regeneration.”
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