Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt
The Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) has empowered 620 indigenes of Ogoni in Rivers State by way of postgraduate scholarship grants and vocational coaching for individuals dwelling with disabilities, as a part of efforts to advertise inclusive improvement and sustainable livelihoods within the oil-producing communities.
The interventions noticed 500 postgraduate college students obtain scholarship grants in Port Harcourt on Thursday, October 22, 2026, whereas 120 individuals dwelling with disabilities graduated from vocational coaching programmes in vogue designing and images in Bori, Khana Local Government Area, yesterday.
Speaking on the two occasions, HYPREP Project Coordinator, Prof. Nenibarini Zabbey, mentioned the initiatives mirrored the federal authorities’s dedication to human capital improvement, inclusive empowerment and the restoration of Ogoni underneath President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
At the scholarship award ceremony in Port Harcourt, Zabbey charged the beneficiaries to deploy their educational information, analysis {and professional} experience in direction of addressing the developmental challenges dealing with Ogoni communities.
He described the scholarship scheme as an funding within the area’s future, urging the scholars to see the grants as a name to service fairly than merely monetary help.
“Education gives you knowledge, but it also places a responsibility on you to use that knowledge to improve society. I encourage you to see this scholarship as a call to service,” he mentioned.
Zabbey urged the postgraduate college students to develop revolutionary options, set up skilled networks and contribute to constructing a peaceable and economically sustainable Ogoni.
He defined that the scholarship programme aligned with the suggestions of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which recognized different livelihoods and human capability improvement as necessary elements of the response to Ogoni’s environmental challenges.
The coordinator acknowledged issues raised by some beneficiaries over delays in disbursement however maintained that HYPREP remained dedicated to its obligations, noting that public tasks required due course of, accountability and cautious planning.
One of the beneficiaries, Mrs. Bara Uloma Celestine, a PhD scholar of Mathematics Education at Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, mentioned the grant would ease the monetary burden related with her research and analysis.
“Despite all the expenses, I, on behalf of others, am very sure that the sum given to us will go a very long way. Not just to pay our school fees, but to carry out our various research works in our various fields and to publish some things at hand,” she mentioned.
Similarly, Mr. Bienebari Solomon Oscar, a PhD scholar of Development Studies on the University of Port Harcourt, recommended HYPREP for what he described as a clear course of.
“I can attest today, Professor Nenibarini Zabbey has shown that there are still leaders who have people at heart. The transparency of this whole programme and the way of handling everything, we are very satisfied,” he mentioned.
At the commencement ceremony for individuals dwelling with disabilities in Bori yesterday, Zabbey mentioned the coaching marked the fulfilment of an initiative that started in 2023 following appeals by the management of the Ogoni Persons Living with Disabilities.
He disclosed that HYPREP commenced vocational coaching for 300 individuals dwelling with disabilities, with the primary batch of 120 graduating after finishing programs in vogue designing and images.
The graduates comprised 60 beneficiaries educated in vogue designing and one other 60 in images.
According to him, HYPREP had offered starter packs to allow the beneficiaries to ascertain companies instantly after commencement. The mission additionally distributed assistive units, together with wheelchairs, crutches, information canes, listening to aids and prosthetic legs, to help their mobility and independence.
“What started as an appeal has today become a reality,” Zabbey mentioned, describing the initiative as proof of HYPREP’s dedication to inclusive improvement.
He recommended the management and members of the incapacity neighborhood for his or her constructive engagement, persistence and peaceable strategy, which he mentioned helped make the programme potential.
The coordinator urged the graduates to kind cooperatives and enterprise clusters to strengthen their enterprises, help each other and broaden their financial alternatives.
He additionally warned them towards promoting their starter packs and assistive units, stressing that HYPREP had launched a post-training monitoring mechanism to trace beneficiaries’ progress.
Zabbey mentioned HYPREP’s interventions prolonged past environmental remediation to incorporate potable water, healthcare, training, livelihood help, peacebuilding and neighborhood engagement, with the target of making certain that no phase of the Ogoni inhabitants was left behind.
He expressed optimism that the remaining 180 trainees would graduate in subsequent ceremonies, urging the beneficiaries to grow to be ambassadors of the Project of their communities.
