“In this particular case there’s been a commitment of $1bn and the governance structure that we are putting in place involves the governing council which will determine the programme and how the road map is being implemented.

“But then there is also a board of trustees where a trust fund for that money will be put and we hope to have fund managers who can begin to leverage that.

“Investors in the Niger Delta abound by a number of agencies. The Ministry of Niger Delta has a budget and they are part of this and therefore we look forward to ensure that we are working in the same direction. And aside cleaning up the area, we will be looking at making it economically buoyant through diversification.”

Mohammed urged residents of the Niger Delta to show interest in the exercise, stressing that the President would be there in person to start the cleanup programme.

She said, “We can cleanup the polluted fish ponds and the soil in Ogoni, but we’ve got to have buy-ins from the community to want to protect their environment and to see good things come out of it. Ogoniland is going to be our starting point, but the rest of the Niger Delta is also polluted in heavy ways, perhaps even more than Ogoniland.”

On responses gotten from the affected communities concerning the cleanup exercise, Mohammed said, “Everybody believes in President Buhari. The integrity of our President is what people believe in and they hope that something can happen. But right now I’m particular about sustainability.

“However, the launch is incredibly important, it is historic and it tells the struggle, but what is more important is what comes after.”

Speaking further on plans by the ministry to access funds to address other environmental challenges across the country, the minister said the Nigerian government would tap from the resources that were made available during the recent Paris Agreement.

Mohammed said, “Clearly there is insufficient resources to do the things we need to do, for you can see the competing demands in the budget, but we’ve got to be innovative about how to get funding outside the budget.”

Punch…..