The All Progressives Congress (APC) Legacy Awareness and Campaign group says the government of President Muhammadu Buhari has successfully cleaned up 15 sites in Ogoniland and is carrying out several development projects in the Niger-delta region of the country.
The group said this in a press statement signed by its leaders; the APC National Youths Leader, Ismael Ahmed, Director General of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) Salihu Lukman, a former APC National Publicity Secretary Mr Lanre Issa-Onilu and a Presidential media aide Tolu Ogunlesi.
The Niger-Delta region is the rich oil-producing region of Nigeria that has been affected by oil extraction activities.
The APC Legacy Campaign group while explaining the various ways that the government is working to rehabilitate the region added that apart from the Clean Up, Health care facilities and water schemes are being done in the region.
“The procurement process for the clean-up commenced in 2018, while the actual remediation commenced in January 2019, with the handing over of the first batch of 21 sites to the selected contractors, for remediation. A second batch of sites was handed over in February 2020. Fifteen sites have now been fully cleaned, while work continues on others.
“In addition to the remediation, the Clean-Up project is also rehabilitating old water schemes and constructing new ones across Ogoniland. One of the first tasks in the Clean-Up was a water quality assessment in all four local governments that make up Ogoniland. The Project will also make interventions in healthcare facilities and systems in the region. The Clean-Up has so far created hundreds of jobs for locals” the APC group said.
According to the group, due to the peace being enjoyed in the region several investments such as pioneering Oil and Gas Park in Bayelsa State, a Comprehensive forensic Audit of the NDDC, infrastructural development projects among others.
Also Read: Nigerian government reiterates commitment to Ogoniland cleanup
“In terms of physical infrastructure, the 338km East-West Road, running across four States of the region — Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa Ibom — is now receiving priority attention, more than a decade after the contract was first awarded. The President is committed to completing the first four sections of the Road by 2022.
“The 39km Bodo-Bonny Bridges and Road project is another landmark infrastructure project being delivered by the Buhari Administration, for the people of the Niger Delta. Comprising several bridges, as well as a road network, it will connect Bonny Island, Nigeria’s gas hub, to Ogoniland on the Rivers Mainland, opening up several once-isolated communities for commerce, investment and development. The project was first conceived in the late 1970s, but all the contracts awarded prior to the Buhari Administration were aborted. President Buhari has finally broken the jinx. Construction started on the project in 2017 and it is now set for completion in 2022,” the statement read.
In addition, the group said the Buhari government is working on increasing the capacity of the Modular Refineries in the region and making investments in the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG).
“The original 1,000 bpd Refinery in Rivers State, which began operations in 2011, has under President Buhari’s watch expanded into an 11,000 bpd facility. In November 2020 President Buhari commissioned the first phase of the Waltersmith Refinery in Imo State. The OPAC Refinery in Delta State has also been completed. The ones in Edo and Bayelsa States are under construction, while Waltersmith has flagged off construction of its second phase.
“One of the biggest investments Nigeria has seen in a while is the Train 7 of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited, in Bonny, Rivers State. More than a decade after Train 6 was completed and launched, President Buhari has in 2021 flagged off construction of Train 7. Until he became President, the project had stalled, the victim of a lack of political will from the previous administration. The Train 7 project will attract around $10 billion of domestic and foreign investment while creating several thousand jobs, and asserting Nigeria’s place on the global map of gas-producing countries,” the APC group said.
Zainab Sa’id
