Hello, and welcome to this edition of  Africa Express here on China Radio International. I'm your host, Wei Tong. 

Oil plays a very important role in the economy of Nigeria. But in the oil-rich Niger Delta region, it has become a source of conflict between the local people and oil companies. For example, the people of Ogoniland are not happy with the operations of Shell Oil which they say have not only contaminated the environment, but have also destroyed their livelihoods.

Now, the United Nations Environment Program, UNEP, and the United Nations Development Program are preparing to undertake a comprehensive assessment of the sites affected by oil production in Ogoniland starting next year. To find out more about this, UN Radio's Derrick Mbatha called Henrik Slotte, the Chief of the UNEP's Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch based in Geneva.

SLOTTE: This initiative was prompted by the Federal government of Nigeria that a year ago asked UNEP as part of the reconciliation process in Ogoniland to start and implement an environmental assessment of the contamination in Ogoniland.

MBATHA: And how has oil exploration impacted sites in this region?

SLOTTE: Oil explorations in this region have been ongoing for 50 years so there is contamination that is directly linked to the oil exploration. However, for the last 10-12 years, there has not been active oil exploration because there was political unrest during the early part of the 90s. Now it is in the government's interest, as well as the oil industry but also in the local community's interest that the environmental assessment is done which will be followed by environmental clean-up that then could lead again to development and economic activities.

MBATHA: And how long do you expect this assessment to take place?

SLOTTE: Well, there are many factors that will play in when you work in Ogoniland but I told the minister of environment in Abuja that we anticipate to start in early 2008 and have the work done by latest in end of 2008.

MBATHA: You made mention the fact that there was a political turmoil in this region for some time. Now how is the local community of Ogoniland involved in this and how is it going to benefit from it?

SLOTTE: We have discussed with the local communities, they are welcoming this and they would naturally like to see this assessment as soon as possible lead to clean up. What we can do already in the early part of next year is to recruit local staff for positions where we can use local people, be it as drivers, be it as secretaries but also more technical tasks working in the field alongside our international experts.

MBATHA: You said that this initiative was started by the Federal government of Nigeria as part of reconciliation. Can you elaborate on that?

SLOTTE: Well, this is a much broader project and we are then taking care of the first phase of the environmental part. I believe that the federal government and also the local community see that because of the impact the oil industry has had with the environment, this is a key part of it. We also see that the work we are doing in the field has a peace building dimension and that is why our organization did not hesitate when we got this request knowing very well that it is not easy to work in the Niger Delta.

That was Henrik Slotte, the Chief of the Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch of the United Nations Environment Program based in Geneva, talking to UN Radio's Derrick Mbatha.

Now that wraps up this edition of  Africa Express. If you would like to listen to this or other stories again, you can log onto our website at www.crienglish.com. And you can also contact us via email at africaexpress@crifm.com. I am Wei Tong. Hope you can tune into our program next time! Bye for now!