Warns erring Ogoni cleanup contractors, issues ultimatum
Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt
The House of Representatives Committee on Host Communities has initiated moves to extend environmental cleanup operations beyond Ogoniland to other oil-polluted communities in the Niger Delta through proposed legislation aimed at sustaining remediation efforts across the region.
This as the committee has warned contractors delaying the execution of their projects in the ongoing clean-up exercise in Ogoniland to sit up or risk having their contracts cancelled.
The committee disclosed this yesterday, at the end of a two-day inspection of project sites under the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) in Rivers State.
Led by its chairman, Hon. Dumnamene Dekor, the committee visited several sites, including mangrove restoration projects in Bomu, Gokana Local Government Area; a cottage hospital in Bua, Khana LGA; an electricity distribution substation in Wiiyaakara; and the Centre of Excellence for Environmental Restoration.
Dekor said the proposed bill, being developed with the involvement of HYPREP and the Federal Ministry of Environment, would provide a framework for extending remediation efforts to other communities affected by oil pollution.
“Very soon, the bill will come up. What we intend to do with that is to sustain what HYPREP is doing and see how it can be taken to all other parts of the Niger Delta,” he said.
He described the ongoing Ogoniland cleanup as a pilot scheme, stressing that environmental degradation remained a major challenge across the oil-producing region.
“When you do an overfly, maybe around the Niger Delta, you will weep,” Dekor said, underscoring the scale of pollution requiring urgent attention.
The lawmaker commended HYPREP for its implementation of the cleanup programme, noting that the projects inspected had recorded significant progress, with completion levels exceeding 80 per cent.
He expressed optimism that the renewed commitment to delivery would ensure the completion of the projects to the required standards and within reasonable timelines.
Dekor also praised HYPREP’s skills acquisition programme, saying it had equipped young Ogonis with specialised skills relevant to employment opportunities locally and internationally.
“I understand about 2,400 of them have been listed at the centres where they have been trained,” he said.
He added that the programme was creating opportunities for young people to become skilled professionals and contribute to the development of their communities.
During the inspection of some cleanup project sites Dekor, specifically mentioned the water project at Bua Yeghe, Gokana Local Government Area, as one of the contracts being delayed and said his committee would meet with the HYPREP management
He said: “For the contractors who have decided that they would not move their projects forward, we also have the right to recommend that those projects be cancelled. Maybe we will discuss with the management, if there are a few of them that we find wanting, we will be requesting their presence. Let me speak particularly about the water project in Bua (Yeghe).
“We understand there are issues of variation but the last time we came, we saw that place like that and that place is still like that. If nothing is done, we’ll recommend outright cancellation,” he said.
HYPREP Project Coordinator, Prof. Nenibarini Zabbey, said the agency had more than 130 project sites covering remediation, shoreline cleanup, potable water provision, healthcare improvement, mangrove restoration and skills development across Ogoniland’s four local government areas.
He said the intervention had generated direct and indirect employment while expanding access to essential services for residents.
Zabbey highlighted the specialist hospital’s oncology unit, which provides cancer screening and treatment, as part of efforts to strengthen healthcare delivery in the area.
He also disclosed that HYPREP had conducted a comprehensive human health biomonitoring study, coordinated by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer, to examine the relationship between exposure to hydrocarbon contaminants and the health of affected populations.
Zabbey said the committee’s visit would provide firsthand insight into the project’s progress and enable lawmakers to make recommendations to improve implementation and sustain environmental recovery efforts.
Presidency: National Policing Bill’ll Be Transmitted To N’Assembly Within Two Weeks
.Says draft bill is 90% ready
Deji Elumoye in Abuja
The Presidency on Thursday disclosed that the National Policing Bill will be transmitted to the National Assembly within two weeks.
Chief of Staff to the President and Chairman of the Presidential Working Group, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, made this known to newsmen after the steering committee meeting at the State House in Abuja.
According to him: “The National Policing Bill is more or less ready for transmission to the National Assembly. We will probably have one more meeting after this to cross the t’s and dot the i’s and make sure every area is covered. So, we are 90% ready.
“The governors have one or two observations, and we should be ready in about a week or so.”
He described the bill as ‘the most consequential Bill of the administration so far’ adding that it has undergone strenuous exercises in the last few weeks since the working group’s steering committee began deliberations on August 3, 2026.
Also commenting on the possibility of the states dragging their feet on the passage of the Sixth Constitution Alteration Bill (State Police), especially against the backdrop of the information that only about six states had passed the amendment out of the 36 states and the FCT, Gbajabiamila affirmed that there was a “national consensus” among Nigerians on the need for the amendments.
“I see no reason why anyone will want to have a rethink on it,” he said.
Members of the committee present at the Thursday’s meeting held at the conference hall of the Chief of Staff Office at the State House, Abuja, were Chairman of the Governors’ Forum and Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRazak AbdulRahman; Governors Dapo Abiodun, Ogun State; Uba Sani, Kaduna State; Inspector General of Police, Tunji Disu, and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice represented by the Solicitor General and Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice, Mrs Beatrice Jedy-Agba.
Others included Chairman, Policy Advisory Committee, Justice Abdullahi Liman (rtd); Head, Nigeria Police Reform Secretariat, Professor Olu Ogunsakin; Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives), Dr Lanre Smart; Senior Special Assistant to the President on Planning and Research who also doubles as the Secretary of the Committee, Nnadubem Moghalu; representative of the President of the Nigerian Bar Association; and AIG Abraham Nabhon Thomas, representing the National Security Adviser, among others.
President Bola Tinubu had on July 7, 2026,
inaugurated the Presidential Working Group on the National Policing Bill to prepare the legal framework for the implementation of state police across the country.
The Working Group’s inauguration followed the National Assembly’s passage of the Constitution Alteration (State Police) Bill, 2026, in which the President proposes a dual policing structure comprising the Federal Police Service and 36 State Police Services.
Tinubu had pisited that while the constitutional amendment creates the framework for state police, the National Policing Bill would provide the legal structure for its implementation.
“The Constitution Amendment Bill establishes the framework for dual policing, but it does not operationalise it. That work is left to the National Policing Bill.”
According to him, the proposed legislation would address issues necessary for a smooth operationalisation of the State Police system.
“The proposed National Policing Bill will include provisions on minimum policing standards, state readiness certification, federal-state coordination, accountability, human rights safeguards and fiscal conditions.”
The President said that the committee will produce an implementation-ready draft bill immediately after the constitutional amendment process.
“The Working Group has been constituted to produce a technically robust, implementation-ready draft National Policing Bill for transmission to the National Assembly,” Tinubu said.
He said the committee was necessary to avoid delays after the State Police bill passed.
“We must not wait until the constitutional process is concluded before beginning this important assignment,” he said.