Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface is the Executive Director, Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre – Nigeria (YEAC-Nigeria), who has worked with the presidency in the past toward realizing peace in the oil region with some packages that can win the hearts of the restive youths. In this interview with IGNATIUS CHUKWU, the expert reveals what must be done before any attempt to scale up cleanup to all of the oil region, and how the abandoned modular refinery scheme of the past administration remains the easy way for full oil restoration in both Ogoni and beyond.
By your observation, what is the update on cleanup of Ogoni?
The Cleanup is ongoing, complex sites are now being done. Over 300 students have been given post-graduate scholarships, from what we saw weeks back.
I can also say that some contractors are on site in Ogoni. The Centre of Excellence is being constructed. The electricity project seems stalled but the processes are ongoing.
What are areas of improvement that would make the Clean Up ideal or to meet expectations of the Ogoni people?
The area of improvement would be to ensure speeding up for it to move faster.
The Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) should be more transparent and more accountable to the people.
Another area would be getting closer to the people and allowing them ask questions and know what is happening in the cleanup scheme.
Another would be is putting into use the areas cleaned so people see that hydrocarbon has been cleaned off. I believe restoration has not started but we believe processes would be instituted to give the people hope on their environment. That the environment would return to how it was before pollution took over.
The governors of the region are calling for scaling it up in all of Niger Delta. if cleanup was a failure, how come governors want it?
I do not think cleanup is a failure, though not as successful as expected. At least, something is being done, even if not perfectly being done. At least, what is being done is better than when not done at all.
Yes, some governors such as Bayelsa governor have demanded for cleanup. Bayelsa said they have done an audit and that $12Bn is needed to clean it up. They are demanding that the national oil companies be made to contribute to a fund to clean up the place and restore it to the way it was. I think other governors want it too.
HYPREP was not created as an Ogoni agency but for the Niger Delta. That is why the governors are calling for a scale up. They should also carry out study as was done in Ogoni to ascertain that there is spill and the extent.
Is it possible to scale it up to all of Niger Delta?
The entire Niger Delta is polluted and that there is need for an audit of the entire region. Then, clean up should follow quickly as soon as possible after. So, scale up to the region is necessary and possible.
For the FG to carry out the Gulf of Guinea security scheme your organization proposed with the Modular Refinery scheme you agreed with the past administration versus carrying out a full cleanup of the Niger Delta, which do you think is more important to bring about peace in the Niger Delta?
I think both are important to bring about peace in the Niger Delta. I think if we improve peace in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) we are able to prevent illegal bunkering, prevent sea piracy, prevent organized crime in the oil region. We should be able to prevent smuggling of small and light arms in the region, track the issue of drugs smuggling across the Golf of Guinea, it will be beneficial. If you are able to address security, you have addressed the other issues.
At the national conference on Organised Crime in Nigeria and Gulf of Guinea that was organized by YEAC-Nigeria on April 28, 2023, we recommended a Task Force on Organised Crime in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea. Mr President took that up by recommending an ECOWAS Standby Force. I think if the force comes into operation it will address the issue of Insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea, which is very important.
We had previously recommended that the FG should partner with the Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria) to tracking the network of organized crime in Nigeria and Gulf of Guinea.
This is a Civil-Military Platform that would help the Civil Society that would sieve information and share especially to the ECOWAS Special Security Force that Mr President has already set up. The information would be used to secure the Niger Delta and the Gulf of Guinea. I think this will bring about peace.
Kickstarting of Modular Refineries is also key because the youths are breaking into the pipelines, polluting the environment, stealing crude oil, involving in illegal refining, and contributing to environmental pollution. We can prevent this by providing the youths with Modular Refineries. This is what we have been working on since 2017 with the then President Muhammadu Buhari administration when the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, visited the Niger Delta. He said he was going to make Modular Refinery dream a reality in the Niger Delta. He made us to create cooperatives and groups but up till now, we have not seen anything. I believe if Modular Refineries system is given the attention it deserves, it would help to reduce the pollution and oil theft in the region and end new pollution into the Niger Delta environment. This makes cleanup to be possible. It is important to do this to guarantee peace and security in the Niger Delta.
I also remember that on July 27, 2020, I recommended the establishment of a Presidential Artisanal Crude Oil Refining Development Initiative (PACORDI) which looks at the modification, standardization, legalisation, integration of illegal refineries into the economy, very similar to what the Federal Government did with the Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Initiative (PAGMI) in northern and western Nigeria. I believe that if this is done, making the youths who are involved in illegal bunkering and refining to have alternative livelihood provision in the PACORDI’s scheme, it will help to address the issue of insecurity in the oil region, Nigeria, and Gulf of Guinea. It will bring about peace because the youths would be busy with the legal refining and processes and this will make it difficult to pollute the environment and will make the scaling up of the entire Niger Delta to be possible and workable.
If pollution still comes from illegal refining the way it is happening in the Ogoni areas such as the one at Ogale a week ago, and you still have youths involved in illegal refining polluting the environment, then scaling up Niger Delta cleanup will be a huge challenge because you cannot be cleaning and re-polluting at the same time. Even the UNEP Report seriously warned against this possibility but because nothing was done to arrest it before starting physical cleanup, this has become an issue because you cannot clean the floor when the tap is still on. It is important to start now to put in place this new livelihood alternative so youths can migrate from illegal to legal refining and the opportunity to clean the Niger Delta after assessment can begin.
The Federal University of Environmental Technology that has been established in Ogoni, if proper funding is guaranteed, it will help to reduce some of these problems in the area because it is going to serve as a think-tank on how issues will be tackled and how technology can be developed, not only on pollution but on cleanup and issues that will lead to youths that would go into illegal refineries to find alternative livelihood. This is because a component of the University talks about the development of clean and renewable energy. That is to say some solar panels can be developed from the University and companies will spring up to fabricate the panels and other tech items. You now have them locally available and cheaper.
With all these, peace will return to the Niger Delta because the environment will be clean and it will be a better place to live again.
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