UN hopes $1bn operation will boost employment and drive development among Ogoniland communities devastated by contamination from spills... A $1bn clean-up of one of the world’s most oil-polluted regions will be officially launched on Thursday by the Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari. But it will be at least 18 months before full remedial work starts in Ogoniland in the Niger delta, and possibly 25 years before all the swamps, creeks, fishing grounds and mangroves are restored after decades of spills by Shell, the national oil firm [NNPC] and other oil companies... It is expected that many young Ogoni will be offered jobs, with several hundred engineers possibly being trained abroad...

Shell has been widely blamed...[but] claims to have done much of the [cleanup] work already. “...15 Shell Petroleum Development Corporation (SPDC) joint venture sites ...have been reassessed, and where...required...have been remediated...,” it said...

...[The] start of the official clean-up was this week welcomed by community leaders, and international and domestic NGOs...[including] Mene Michael Porobunu, a...leader [of the polluted Bodo community]... But some neighbouring communities said they were angry that they would not benefit from the clean-up, despite strong claims that they have been heavily impacted by pollution.

[also refers to Agip (part of Eni), Aiteo, Total]