The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) said it had commenced a clean up of the 300 oil impacted sites in Ogoni land in the Niger Delta Area. Dr Bamidele Ajakaiye, the Director-General of the Agency, made this knownon Thursday in Abuja in a press briefing. Ajakaiye, who said the project was being handled jointly with the Federal Ministry of Environment, stated that the exercise was moving on smoothly.``We are all playing vita roles to ensure the success of the project,'' he said, adding that the exercise labelled: ``Clean up Ogoni land,'' was being executed in phases. ``The first phase of the project is to clean up all impacted sites first, which is the environmental assessment, before commencing on the second phase,'' Ajakaiye said.According to him, the Ministry and NOSDRA are serving as members of the presidential implementation committee while the United Nations Environmental Protection (UNEP) is providing technical services. The director general, who also said the Federal Government had released some money for the execution of the project, however, refused to disclose the amount.On the agency's achievements, he said it issued 54 certificates to oil impacted sites in 2008 after remediation. ``We have 369 certificates, which will be issued as soon as payments are made by the companies to NOSDRA,''Ajakaiye said.He also said the agency successfully investigated two pipeline fire outbreaks at Okoroma community in Bayelsa and Bomu in Gokana local government of Rivers.Ajaikaiye said the agency also carried out Post-Impacted Assessment in 2008 to determine the extent of damage caused by oil spills in oil-bearing communities in the country.He said it also that the agency provided some guidelines on how to address the problems of oil spills to check recurrence. |
