Executive Summary

The Niger Delta region is not only home to a diverse population projected in 2015 to be about 41.5 million people, but also a reservoir of some of Nigeria's most oil-rich communities. The region has experienced extensive environmental degradation since the discovery of crude oil in the 1950s due to prolonged and poorly regulated oil exploration and exploitation activities. Ogoni land has shown clearly the grotesque representation of environmental pollution and degradation of the land and aquatic wealth of the region. Oil spills, gas flaring, and toxic waste dumping have devastated ecosystems, contaminated water sources, destroyed livelihoods, and endangered public health. This ecological crisis has also fueled social unrest, led to or gross reduction in revenue accruals, deepened poverty, and eroded trust between local communities, oil companies, and the government.

international pressure, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), given the enormity of the environmental challenge, conducted a comprehensive environmental assessment of Ogoni land in 2011. The UNEP report documented severe pollution and called for an emergency and sustained environmental remediation program, estimating that full clean-up and restoration could take up to 30 years. Based on these findings, the Federal Government of Nigeria launched the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) in 2016 to coordinate and implement the clean-up process.

However, HYPREP implementation of the clean-up has been slow and fraught with challenges, manifesting in institutional weaknesses, bureaucratic delays, limited technical capacity, and inconsistent funding. Additionally, affected communities have repeatedly expressed concerns about a lack of consultation, transparency, and accountability in the remediation process. Many fear that without urgent and sustained reforms, the clean-up risks becoming another missed opportunity to address the region's deep-seated environmental and socio-economic problems.

This policy brief emphasises the need to reinvigorate and recalibrate the Ogoni clean-up initiative as a national environmental justice priority, which should focus on reversing the challenges mentioned above. Revitalising the Ogoni land clean-up is not just an environmental imperative. It is a right issue, a moral, economic, and political necessity. A credible, well-executed remediation effort can serve as a model for the wider Niger Delta region and beyond, help heal long-standing grievances and signal a renewed commitment by the Nigerian government to sustainable development and environmental justice.