Port Harcourt – The Minister of State, Environment, Mrs Sharon Ikeazor has assured members of staff of Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), of better welfare package.
The minister, who gave the assurance on Monday, when she visited members of staff of HYPREP, in Port Harcourt, Rivers, urged them to be dedicated to their job for good service delivery.
Sharon said the aim of the visit was to know the achievements, challenges of the staff and how to address such challenges to enable them achieve a smooth service delivery.
She also said the objective of the visit was to know how the office was relating with the people of Ogoni in the remediation project.
”We must build trust between the government and the entire staff. HYPREP is highly important.
“The most important of it all is effective communication with the unit and Ogoni people, when there is failure in communication, other activities will definitely fail.
“Another important issue is the welfare of staff of HYPREP, the junior staff and the contract staff need to know all these.
“Your challenges and your achievement is very vital to the government, these will help us know how to tackle it for a better way forward.
“The livelihood of the Ogoni people is also important. I will want the person in charge of that in the office to give us an update on how they are relating with Ogoni people.
“The Ogoni people’s livelihood is also important to the government, so we need to as well know more about what they have for them in that area too.
“I also want to use this opportunity to urge the staff of HYPREP to be dedicated for better service delivery,” she said.
Prof. Philip Shekwolo, Project Coordinator, HYPREP, thanked the minister for visiting, adding that her presence would help to address many challenges the office was facing.
Shekwolo said that the visit would also boost their working condition as well as strengthening the Ogoni clean-up project.
Also, Mrs Josephine Nsidee, Head of Livelihood Unit, HYPREP, said the unit ensures that livelihood of the people of Ogoni was provided by engaging them with relevant programmes.
Nsidee said that the office had designed programmes that would cover the livelihood of the people, adding that the office had written to the heads of communities informing them about the programme.
She also said that fund was not enough to design such programme, as the programme needs support from other relevant stakeholders to enable effective implementation of the programme. (NAN)
