Making HYPREP an agency
August 12, 2026 12:06 am
By Lekan Sote
After touring soil, water and air pollution sites and witnessing the significant remediation that the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project of the Federal Ministry of Environment has done in Ogoniland, it has been difficult to forget an experience that almost led to asphyxiation.
So, when someone recently said that HYPREP, which accomplished such a great job, was a mere project, a temporary task with an expiry date, and not an agency created by law to last a long time, it sounded unbelievable.
It’s a little scary that the job of remediation of contaminated soil, water bodies and air that HYPREP is currently doing stands the chance of being discontinued, or fizzling out, as soon as the donated fund gets exhausted.
Consider what would have been the negative implications on the lives and livelihoods of Nigerians who now reap the benefits of the remediation and reclamation of polluted lands and water bodies that HYPREP has accomplished in about one decade.
HYPREP, set up in 2016 vide Federal Government Gazette Number 176, Volume 103, to implement United Nations Environment Programme’s environmental assessment report on Ogoniland, established its Project Coordination Office in February 2017.
It awards contracts to contractors who carry out the remediation exercise, based on the factsheets of the UNEP Report of 2011 and the delineation of sites that the Project Coordination Office designated as having significant contamination and needing remediation.
Eligible contractors must have the equipment, working experience and skill set in excavation and tilling of soils, and knowledge of appropriate nutrient amendment, bio-mediation quality assurance and quality control processes.
HYPREP’s job of assessment and remediation of hydrocarbon contamination in Ogoniland extends to Niger Delta communities and other parts of Nigeria. And because the Ogoniland contamination disaster is waiting to happen in other Nigerian communities with petrol stations, petrol products depots, refineries and pipelines, it is sensible to convert HYPREP from a project to an agency.
In its policy statement, HYPREP declares: “We are dedicated to making a difference in the fight against hydrocarbon pollution. With a steadfast commitment to environmental stewardship, we’re tackling some of the most pressing challenges facing our planet today. Join us on our journey, as we strive to create a cleaner, healthier future for all.”
This declaration sounds like a readiness to not only clean Ogoniland, but also the Niger Delta, Nigeria and the entire planet Earth. Therefore, the assignment must be handled by a government agency with perpetual life.
The indicting June 2020 report by the coalition of Amnesty International, Environment Rights Action, Friends of the Earth Nigeria, Friends of the Earth Europe and Milieudefendie further confirms the need for an agency to replace the project.
Following is the report: “Almost nine years after the publication of the UNEP report (of 2011), this research reveals that there is still no clean-up, no fulfilment of emergency measures, no transparency and no accountability for failed efforts, neither by the oil companies nor by the Nigerian government.
“The efforts that have been made are too little, too weak and have not resulted in effective cleanup. The government must now drastically step up its ambition to implement fully the recommendations of the 2011 UNEP environmental assessment for Ogoniland.
“This starts by prioritising the interests of the communities of the Niger Delta over those of oil companies and the continuation of oil production. In cases of past, present and future environmental damage, pollution and human rights violations, those responsible should be held accountable and liable. Prosecution of offenders is crucial.
“Whenever there are obstacles to the protection of the local population and the environment, extraction, processing and transport operations should be ended. In order to deliver a successful clean up, the Nigerian government must ensure that effective, transparent and accountable structures are in place, using the best independent expertise.”
The suggestion that HYPREP must be overhauled should start from its conversion to an agency with the requisite permanent structures. The remediation assignment cannot be effectively delivered if it depends only on the magnanimity of successive Presidents.
President Goodluck Jonathan was the first to set it up, in 2011. When its ad hoc tenure expired, President Muhammadu Buhari revived it in 2015. Maybe President Bola Tinubu, or his successor, will recreate it when the current term expires.
This ad hoc template is not the best way to run an important activity that should be carried out on a long-term basis and throughout the country. HYPREP should be established by law as a government agency with offices in all state capitals and all local government headquarters.
When the project becomes a full-fledged government agency, its expenditure will be charged directly to the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the government that will assume responsibility for its activities, structures and staff, even if international oil companies pitch in.
Thus, the remediation that will enhance the lives and livelihoods of Nigerian citizens already negatively impacted by oil spillage contaminations will no longer depend on the magnanimity of the IOC, but on the Federal Government whose constitutional responsibilities include the security and welfare of Nigerians.
Oil spillage and the pollution it causes degrade the soil, water bodies and air to the extent that farmlands and fishing rivers can no longer yield the economic crops and aquatic creatures that can sustain the lives and livelihoods of the concerned communities.
While UNEP provided technical assistance and played the role of initiator and observer, the funding, spread over 10 years, came from the $1bn Ogoni Trust Fund (mischievously described by cynics as conscience ransom) that is contributed by IOC stakeholders, like Shell.
Is HYPREP condemned to remain just a project because it is not funded by the Federal Government, or because the IOCs do not own the project, but merely fund it as a Corporate Social Responsibility plank, since UNEP, which does not contribute to the funding, regarded itself as a mere bird of passage without a long-term commitment?
In 2023, UNEP announced that it would scale down its direct technical assistance to assume an advisory role to HYPREP. This probably suggests that HYPREP is up to the task of the remediation of the spillage and pollution that is bound to occur in the petroleum industry that it is going to be in Nigeria for a long time.
If this is so, the Federal Government should be convinced and encouraged to upgrade HYPREP from a mere project of the Federal Ministry of the Environment to a full-fledged, independent and self-accounting agency.
According to a recent news report, Prof Nenibarini Zabbey, HYPREP Project Director, revealed that the project has recorded remarkable gains since the remediation activities started in 2016, and it has also managed to create a sustainable template for the restoration of other oil-impacted communities in Nigeria.
Prof. Zabbey adds that the 15th anniversary of HYPRED, if the counting begins from 2011, “serves as a vital checkpoint for government bodies, international partners, and industry operators to renew their commitments to environmental sustainability, promote healthy communities and support the sustainable development of the people.”
This statement is another evidence of the ability of HYPREP to continue to carry out its clean-up and restoration efforts across oil-impacted communities in Ogoniland and the entire country as a whole, but as a bona fide agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
X:@lekansote1, lekansote.com
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