National Bioremediation Products Development (BPD) Programme

Project Overview

Principal Investigator

Dr. Ezebuiro, Nwagbo Christpeace

Background Information

The Niger Delta has always been a flashpoint for violence and community unrest due to contamination of the life support system, especially land and water. For this reason, the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) has made consecutive efforts to restore the ecosystem of the Niger Delta region (NDR) and promote a healthy relationship between the communities and the ecosystem. As part of the measures to achieve these goals, the FGN in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) conducted a survey to determine the extent of remediation and resources needed to restore the life support system of the NDR. The FGN-UNEP survey resulted in the development of the Ogoniland clean-up programme managed by Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) of the Federal Ministry of Environment. One of the major challenges of HYPREP is the need to develop systems that will ensure increased local content involvement in the project that is already dominated by foreign components in terms of technology and human resources. In view of this challenge, the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) is engaging in remediation product development for the clean-up of the NDR and related sites. The BPD programme of NABDA is new and has just received funding for the first time in 2021.

Objective and Scope

The objective is to develop bioproduct formulation technology with regards to products, human resources and infrastructure. Scope includes:

1. Development of programme implementation framework by stakeholders.
2. Identification of existing in-country bioremediation products and processes, potential feedstock for products development.
3. National survey (six ecological zones) for feedstock sample collection, quantification and documentation.
4. Characterization and screening of candidate feedstock for bioremediation products development.
5. Development of experimental designs for R and D in contaminated soil and surface water remediation.
6. Development of bioremediation formulates, testing and validation of formulates.
7. Development of final product for use in the remediation of hydrocarbon impacted media, especially soil and water.

Milestones

1. Ten (10) biomass resources suitable for bioremediation product development have been identified and characterized.
2. Six (6) of the ten (10) biomass feedstocks in (a) have been quantified.
3. An information system for the programme has been established and the characterized and quantified data available.