Green Energy signs MoU with host community

By Emmanuel Udodinma

Operator of the Otakikpo Marginal Field, Green Energy International Limited (GEIL), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with one of its host communities – the Ikuru Town Community.

The ceremony was endorsed by the Rivers State Ministry of Chieftaincy Affairs and Community Development. The MoU encompasses improved governance and administrative components that would support the delivery of development outcomes in target communities, reduce youth restiveness and promote inclusion of women and vulnerable groups.

The MoU, spanning five years, covers a comprehensive structure that identifies key stakeholders, who will act as sustainability drivers that will support the Ikuru Town community to plan and undertake the implementation of projects based on their development priorities and agenda; an approach that is yielding noticeable improvement in the social performance indices.

Part of what the community stands to benefit is the resuscitation of the liquefied petroleum gas plant in the community. This was confirmed by the Chief Executive Officer, GEIL, Prof. Anthony Adegbulugbe, who assured of the firm’s intention to conclude the installation of the LPG extraction plant and power plants within the next few months in Otakikpo. When this is done, it is believed a new vista of interlinked, multi-level and multi-sectoral development investments, with significant socio-economic and technological impacts will be berthed in the community.

Adegbulugbe added that the company’s future expansion programmes are anchored on sustaining a conducive and mutually beneficial relationship with its host community. He further assured the Ikuru community that the company was set to commence the development of the field which will include drilling additional wells, expanding the production facility to handle the increased production and installing the first indigenous onshore terminal with a capacity of one million barrels at Otakikpo. This level of field development would lead to a transformation of the host communities in terms of development and social change.

GEIL’s Director for Corporate Social Responsibility, David Serena Dokubo-Spiff reiterated that the MoU identifies various development project ratios necessary to reflect the community groups, including women and vulnerable people through the development of community development plan (CDP) that covers the needs and aspirations of the Ikuru people and implemented by the trust fund.

The Paramount Ruler of Ikuru Town, King A.M. Ikuru, expressed appreciation to the management and staff of GEIL, for supporting the building blocks of community transformation through the delivery of sustainable programmes. He added that this MoU was designed to improve citizen’s participation and seeks to encourage a positive alignment of executed MoU-projects in the community, thereby enabling Ikuru Town to evolve into a reference point within the Andoni Local Government Area and Rivers State.