The Minister made the statement on Monday on the sideline of the 2018 International Day for Preservation of Ozone Lay in Abuja.

He said that the exercise would begin before the end of this year.

It was recalled that the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) recommended initial release of one billion Dollars to be used for the clean-up of oil spills for over a period of five years.

The clean-up exercise, according to UNEP, will take 25-30 years to restore the environment.

Much of the funding for the clean-up is expected to come from the oil companies.

Jibril said that out of 200 million Dollars expected from oil companies, 177 million Dollars had been raised for the operation.

“For 2018, 200 million Dollars is expected but so far the joint venture partners and NNPC had been able to raise 177 million Dollars for the operation, which will commence soon.

“Right now, the procurement process is at the very last stage and very soon, we should be able to go to Federal Executive Council meeting to get approval for the contract to be awarded.

“We believe that we should be able to go to the field in the fourth quarter of this year to commence remediation exercise,’’ Jibril said.