Author: The Nation

Pesidents and the Landlords’ Forum of the Lower Ikot Nkebre community in the Calabar Municipal area of Cross River State have cried out for intervention over the substandard execution of the multi-billion naira World Bank erosion control project in their area.

The project was awarded in 2017 and work commenced that same year but the progress has been slow and questionable. To date this date in 2023, the project is uncompleted and deemed abandoned in a situation that poses more disaster to the residents in the area.

A statement demanding a forensic probe of the project written and signed for the community by the Chairman and Secretary of the Lower Ikot Nkebre Landlord Forum; Mr Edu Isang and Mr Oto-Abasi Uwatt respectively, called on the State Governor, the House of Assembly, National Assembly members of the area and all relevant government agencies to visit “Ikot Anwatim, Major Esang in Calabar Municipality to the havoc done to Ikot Nkebre.

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In the Statement made available to newsmen and captioned, “S O S, As About Ten Billion Naira World Bank Project Leaves Ikot Nkebre community in Tears”, they noted that “Residents of lower Nkebre made several complaints to the CR-NEWMAP; the supervising agency on the poor quality of work; several meetings were held between the community, Construction Company and CR-NEWMAP in the CR-NEWMAP office in which promises were made to correct observed errors and effect necessary amendment, that also was never carried out.”

They alleged that “The reason for not adherence was because the agency CR-NEWMAP and their accomplice were playing for time. This fact was made manifest when the community were told in July 2022 that the project had closed since 30th June 2022.”

“Continuous complaints by the residents of lower lkot Nkebre to the World Bank, and other relevant government agencies concerning the poor quality of the remediation work by the company and CR-NEWMAP, led to another meeting at the CR-NEWMAP office, where we were formally informed that the project had closed and that CR-NEWMAP also had ceased to exist.”

The Rivers State House of Assembly has constituted a seven-member ad-hoc committee with a mandate to investigate the causes of oil spills in Aleto community in Eleme Local Government Area of the state.

The Speaker of the House, Martin Amaewhule, assembled the committee after the House received a petition about the spill from Igwe Aforji, the member representing Eleme constituency.

The speaker said though the house was yet to inaugurate its various committees, the urgency of the matter was the reason for the ad-hoc committee.

He said the ad-hoc committee would be chaired by the Deputy Speaker, Dumle Maol, and six other lawmakers with a mandate to thoroughly investigate the activities of oil multinationals and to report to the house within three weeks.

The petition, which was signed by Gomba Osaro, Ebie Nwoke, Nwosu Ngofa and Propero Osaro, accused the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) of paying lip service to oil Spillage at Aleto Community in Eleme.

The petition was read on the floor of the house by the member representing Eleme Constituency, Igwe Aforji, who urged the lawmakers to order Shell to take urgent steps to immediately contain and stop the spill.

They also prayed the House to summon SPDC to appear before it to offer explanations concerning the spill and to send relief materials to Aleto community.

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The petitioners alleged that the oil spillage occurred on the SPDC’s pipeline right of way in ELEME

Zone 2 on June 12 following equipment failure caused by poor mechanical procedure on the part of the company.

They also alleged that the spill had caused terrible damage to their sources of livelihood as it had polluted their source of water and affected fishing activities in the area.

They said: “This ugly development has caused untold hardship to Aleto community, we face a humanitarian crisis and there is no any machinery in motion towards ameliorating company has not set the sufferings of our people.” 

The House also screened and confirmed five commissioner-nominees bringing the total of confirmed nominees to 13.

The nominees are Dr. Jacobson Nbina, Charles Amadi, Dr. Roseline Adawari Uranta, Christopher Green and Dr. Adaeze Chidinma Oreh.

Rivers State Governor, Sir. Siminalayi Fubara, has warned the police against reintroducing the operations of the disbanded Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS) in Rivers.

Some persons had earlier raised the alarm over their harassment by a special squad of the police disguised as the disbanded SARS.

Fubara raised the issues of ongoing SARS-like persecution of residents when the new Police Commissioner to the State, Nwoyi Polycarp Emeka, visited him at Government House, Port Harcourt on Friday.

The governor, in a statement signed by his Special Assistant, Media, Boniface Onyedi, directed the police commissioner to look into such operations and stop them to avoid harassing the people.

He said: “The importance of security is a collective responsibility of all stakeholders and so we urge you to get to the bottom of complaints from citizens in consideration of security matters, as the people were always directly affected during security breaches.”

He reiterated the commitment of his administration to sustain support to all security agencies in the state to ensure that the security of life and property was not compromised.

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The Rivers governor identified the importance of the police in the fight against crime, saying it would require regular logistics support from the government and information from members of the public.

He said: “Let your familiarity with Rivers State security terrain be an advantage to effectively combat crime and criminalities in the State, and I urge you to deploy your wealth of experience in fighting crime and insecurities in the State, the governor noted.

He told the police commissioner to be firm and forthright in tackling all forms of crime in the state.

He directed the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof, Zacchaeus Adango and other relevant agencies of government to create a strong synergy with the police and other security agencies in handling security issues.

Speaking earlier, Emeka said under his watch, accurate information and intelligence would be deployed in fighting crime in the state.

He informed that in the last two weeks, the fight against criminal elements had been formidable with appreciable results.

Emeka assured that with more support from the government and members of various communities, more milestones would be achieved in making the state safer for all residents.

He said: “My primary duty here is to tackle crime and criminality effectively. And to achieve this, all hands must be on deck as we seek the help of the Government of Rivers State and good spirited people of the State to achieve this.

“Information and intelligence gathering is key in fighting crime and it will be deployed fully as we synergise with government and sister agencies for robust policing.”

First time lawmaker, Chike Olemgbe has been elected as the new Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly.

Olemgbe, representing Ihitte/ Uboma Local Government Area of the state was elected unopposed on Friday during the inauguration of the 10th State House of Assembly in Owerri, the state capital.

Olemgbe, 40, is the immediate past Transition Committee Chairman of the Ihitte/ Uboma LGA before he contested the assembly election in the state

The motion for the nomination of Olemgbe as the new Speaker was moved by the member- elect for the Ideato South, Vitalis Azodo, seconded by Ugochukwu Obodo, member elect for Owerri Municipal Council.

The clerk of the House, Chinelo Emeghara, thereafter called for the swearing in of Olemgbe after no further nomination was made.

The immediate past deputy speaker of the Assembly, Amara Iwuanyanwu, was returned as the new Deputy Speaker unopposed.

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President of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), Fegalo Nsuke has called on the Federal Government to evacuate residents of Eleme communities of Rivers state, affected by the fresh oil spill from the facility Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), in the area.

Nsuke also called on the government to sanction SPDC for always polluting communities are said to be affected in the incident which was reportedly occurred last Sunday.

Six communities have been confirmed to be impacted by the spill. They are, Ogale, Aleto, Agbonchia, Onne, Okpaku and Alesa.

Speaking while reacting to the development, the MOSOP Leader accused Shell of insincerity in handling issues of oil spill and decommissioning of its facilities in Ogoniland.

He regretted that despite the huge human and environmental crime being committed by Shell, particularly, operating leaking pipelines in communities resided by human beings was, yet they are not being held to account.

According to him, “the fresh spills is a testament that Shell is secretly operating its facilities in Ogoniland, “he  wondered why the company has not “decommissioned its facilities in Ogoni, following recommendations of UNEP which the duo of Shell and Federal Government claimed to have been implementing in Ogoni since 2016,” he said.

He further said Environment, “Environment pollution has been encouraged in Nigeria because there are little or no consequences for the polluters. This is something the government should strongly consider in the light of present realities where people’s lives are altered by constant pollution and no one is held to account.

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“The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, operator of the NNPC/SPDC/TotalEnergies/NAOC Joint Venture can confirm a spill incident at a facility of the joint venture in Eleme, Rivers State, reported on June 11, 2023.

“We are working closely with a multi-stakeholder Joint Investigation Visit team led by the regulators, Nigerian Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, in collaboration with Rivers State Ministry of Environment and community representatives, as the investigation into the cause and impact of the incident progresses.”

• Demand obedience to court’s ruling in community’s favour

Hundreds of women  in Tunama community; of Gbarain Kingdom ; in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State have staged a peaceful protest against Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and Lee Engineering Company Limited over alleged neglect and disobedience of court judgment in favour of the community.

The protesting women, who came out in their large numbers during the week also picketed the 2nd entrance gate of the Gbarain Natural Gas site to draw public attention to the plight of the community.

They brandished placards with inscriptions such as: ‘SPDC is not doing the right thing in Tunama’, ‘Court does not permit continuous dealing with a dethroned chief’, ‘Pay up our mark-up/contract’,  ‘SPDC: Stop disobeying court order’, ‘Recognize the new leaderdhip in the community’, among others.

They equally accused the two firms of alleged insensitivity and highhandedness in their dealings with the community to the detriment of the generality of the people, which they claimed was not promoting the desired peace.

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The protesters, who spoke through their leader, Mrs. Rosemary Hezekiah, said they embarked on the peaceful demonstration because of the multinational firms flagrant disobedience to court judgment and denying the rights and privileges of their community.

She stated: “The companies are operating in our vast land in Tunama community but have resorted to a divide and rule game.

“We condemn in  strong terms the approach of Shell and Lee in handling matters concerning their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) with their host communities in the region.”

She pointed out that a chieftaincy matter was instituted in the High Court, Yenagoa Judicial Division, Bayelsa State, on May 4, 2023 in Suit No: YHC/220/21 by Chief Kwami Benson and others as defendants.

Hezekiah said that the matter instituted in High Court 4 in Yenagoa and presided over by Justice D. Adokeme, ruled in favour of Tunama community (plaintiffs).

She claimed that the said judgment given in favour of Tunama community ordered Shell and Lee not to deal with the dethroned Chief Benson, but with the new Paramount Ruler, Chief Wenipre Ipatolo, and the leadership of the community.

Hezekiah noted: “However, to our surprise and the generality of members of the community, Shell has refused to obey the court ruling to recognise the new executive council (exco) in the community, rather it still deals with the dethroned monarch.

“All the necessary documents have been presented to the relevant authorities in government and Shell but to no avail.”

She stated that the defendants’ appeal for stay of execution of the court judgment was struck out in favour of the claimants.

Hezekiah wondered why the two firms had refused to respect and recognize the new paramount ruler and the leadership by according them their due entitlements and privileges accruing to the community.

She, therefore, called on Shell and Lee to obey the court judgment on the matter and restore the rights and privileges to the new leadership in the community in order to ensure peace and progress.

Speaking in the same vein, the new Paramount Ruler of Tunama Community, Chief Wenipre Ipatolo, regretted that the two multinationals were not obeying court orders.

The monarch opined that it was a matter of injustice and disobedience of court order being done to the community and urged them to deal with the new leadership in the community in the interest of peace.