The Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) has urged 300 postgraduate scholarship recipients to prioritise peacebuilding in Ogoniland, emphasising that sustainable development can only thrive in an atmosphere of stability.
The Project Coordinator of HYPREP, Prof. Nenibarini Zabbey, made this appeal during the cheque handover ceremony for beneficiaries of the Ogoni Postgraduate Students Scholarship Scheme in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Thursday.
Congratulating the awardees, Zabbey assured them that the selection process was fair, transparent, and inclusive.
He encouraged the scholars to form clusters to foster unity, collaboration, and peaceful coexistence within their communities.
‘I want to emphasise the importance of continuous civic responsibility and constructive engagement in Ogoni communities. Protecting HYPREP’s image, facilities, and sites from negative tendencies is the civic duty of all Ogonis’, he said.
He added that HYPREP would soon launch civic education and engagement initiatives to address misinformation and other challenges impeding progress in the region.
‘As a people, we cannot afford continuous division or discord; instead, we must focus on unity and collaboration. I urge all of you, especially the scholarship recipients, to form clusters that facilitate peace-building initiatives. Let these clusters become platforms for dialogue, reconciliation, innovation, and solutions to address the Ogoni community’s challenges’, Zabbey stated.
The Managing Director of Pa-Ed Multilinks Consulting, the firm facilitating the scheme, Edward Baa, provided insights into the selection process. He noted that over 1,200 participants attended the initial sensitization programme, with 837 registering for the scholarship. Of those, 766 sat for the aptitude test, and 474 advanced to the verification stage.
Baa disclosed that Khana had the highest success rate at 45 per cent, followed by Gokana (29 per cent), Eleme (15 per cent), and Tai (10 per cent).
‘The selection of the 300 recipients was deemed successful, as it reflected a good spread across the four LGAs. The scholarship scheme is targeted at 300 candidates, comprising 100 PhD students and 200 Master’s students’, he said.
