The Nation Newspaper

Tag: communities

  • World Bank earmarks N30b for communities

    World Bank earmarks N30b for communities

    The World Bank assisted Community and Social Development Project (CSDP) says it is now set to start disbursing additional $140million (about N30 billion) to 26 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for community driven projects.

    The project had disbursed $200 million from 2009 to last year in the first phase of the project.

    “States to benefit from the additional financing will focus on the most vulnerable households in poor communities in the country, while Anambra, Kaduna and Sokoto states are also set to participate in the additional financing.

    “The additional financing is expected to fund micro-project facilities such as rehabilitation and construction of school class rooms, health centers and clinics, skills acquisition, rural electrification, rural transport, community water schemes, community housing schemes, rural market infrastructure to mention but a few.

    “Vulnerable groups will also benefit from special grants in the projects. Such groups include internally displaced poor persons, marginalised or chronically poor households, widows and the physically challenged,” a statement from the lender read.

    World Bank Task Team Leader for the project, Foluso Okunmadewa, said: “This project will not only help vulnerable people in the short term, including those in conflict-affected areas, but will also help build and rebuild long-lasting partnership between local governments and communities. In addition, it will help integrate communities as well as make smart investments in people for the future.”

    The first phase of the funding of the Community Social Development Project (CSDP) which benefited over 5,600 communities and about two million people in 26 states of the federation was fully disbursed by December 2014 “

    “The bank is happy to approve additional funds for this project to scale up the impact on more communities in Nigeria and, particularly, the vulnerable in the society.

  • Church cleans up communities

    Church cleans up communities

    Mindful of the maxim that cleanliness is next to Godliness, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints penultimate Saturday went to the streets of Lagos and other areas in 22 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to clean up filthy environments. This they did for three hours each day.

    The cleaning exercise was in commemoration of the annual “All Africa Helping Hands Community Service Project.”

    The exercise, which held simultaneously in other countries of West Africa, was carried out in conjunction with the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA).

    The theme for this year’s project was “Hand in Hand, Serving the Community.”

    The starting point of the clean-up exercise in Lagos was Awori Street, off Capitol, Orile-Agege, where over 20,000 members of the church and its partners converged, armed with work tools before going to different areas of the state.

    The members engaged in clearing of blocked drainage systems, tree planting, building bridges, beautification of sites, painting and renovating public buildings and cutting overgrown grasses in markets and public places. The service will be extended to orphanage homes and the prisons.

    The project was carried out simultaneously in the FCT, Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Enugu, Imo, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Jos, Kwara; Kaduna, Plateau and River states and 30 African countries.

    The immediate past Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of LAWMA, Mr Ola Oresanya praised the church for articulating their faith and belief by eradicating contagious diseases and solving immediate problems facing communities.

    Describing the partnership between the church and the waste managers as fruitful one, Oresanya thanked the church for donating labour and time to service of humanity.

    Some of the areas which benefitted from the project include the Oba’s Palace and Town Hall in Ondo, the Akure State capital and the king’s palace in Ile-Ife and Abeokuta; clearing and cleaning of Ipata Market, Ilorin East Local Government Area; painting and clearing of the palace of the Olubadan of Ibadan.

    In Ijebu-Ode, the Outpatient and Children Emergency Units of Ijebu-Ode General Hospital were repainted, its surroundings cleared, trees were planted in the premises, medical equipment such as litmus, stethoscopes and sphygmomanometer were donated and abandoned patients were reached out to.

     

  • Sokoto Cement spends N260m on communities’ resettlement

    Sokoto Cement spends N260m on communities’ resettlement

    Over N260 million has been spent in resettling 183 families from three communities affected by the expansion embarked upon by Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN), its Managing Director, Mr. Alf Karlsen has said.

    The beneficiary communities are Dan Atu, Sabon-Gida and Gidan- Mubaga in Sokoto State. They have been resettled at Sabongari Alu in Wamakko Local Government.

    Karlsen, who spoke while handing over some of the structures to the caretaker chairman of the council, Alhaji Ahmed Kalambaina,  said the amount was the compensation paid on houses and farmlands and the acquisition of the quarry in the area.

    Represented by the Executive Director, Finance, Mr. Ibrahim Aminu, Karlsen said the company had donated 200 plots to the 186 families where they built their new homes, linked the community with electricity and provided them with potable water.

    He also said the company, locally known as Sokoto Cement, had built an Islamic and modern primary school, clinic, mosque and access roads, among others. He expressed happiness on the existing cordial relationship between the firm and its host communities.

    “CCNN appreciates this cordial relationship, which is key to our sustained successful operations and that is why we even expanded the over 50-year-old company. We will continue to diligently discharge our corporate social responsibilities to further improve the living standard of the members of our host communities,’” he said.

    Alhaji Kalambaina commended the firm for assisting the communities, and pledged to deploy competent teachers to schools and post medical staff to the clinic.

    In their separate remarks, District Heads of Gumbi and Kalambaina, Alhaji Sama’ila Mujelli and Alhaji Abubakar Ahmed appealed to the company to float a scholarship scheme for youths in the area.

  • Cement firm spends N260m on communities

    About N260million has been spent by the Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN) to resettle 183 families in three communities in Wamakko Local Government Area of Sokoto State, the Managing Director, Mr. Alf Karlsen, said yesterday.

    The affected communities, already in their Sabon Garin Alu new settlement, include Dan Atu, Sabon-Gida and Gidan-Mubaga.

    Karlsen, who handed over items to the Caretaker Chairman of Wamakko Council, Alhaji Ahmed Kalambaina, said the money included the amount spent on the payment for quarry and compensation for houses and farmlands.

    Karlsen, represented by the Executive Director (Finance), Ibrahim Aminu, said 200 plots were given to the adults from the 186 benefiting families.

    He said the company had connected the new settlement to the national grid, adding that a borehole and an overhead tank were put in place.

    Karlsen said CCNN built primary schools, a clinic, a mosque and access roads.

    Kalambaina hailed the firm for its efforts to assist the host communities.

    He urged the posting of competent teachers to the schools, promising to ensure the clinic had medical workers.

    The District Head of Gumbi, Alhaji Sama’ila Mujelli and that of Kalambaina, Alhaji Abubakar Ahmed, enjoined the company to institute a scholarship scheme for youths in its host communities.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Flood destroys communities in Yobe

    Thousands of people have been displaced, following a downpour in two communities in Yobe State.

    The rain, which began late on Monday night and stopped yesterday, rendered residents of Ngelzarma and Jajare in Fune Local Government homeless.

    Reports said nobody died. Deputy Governor Abubakar Aliyu visited the victims and sympathised with them.

    He directed the Ministry of Works to assess the area and come up with a solution.

    Aliyu instructed the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to provide a palliative for the victims, who are temporarily camped at a primary school in the community.

    The SEMA Executive Secretary, Idi Jidawa, told our correspondent on the phone that he had despatched two teams to Ngelzarma and Jajare to provide succour.

    He said: “The flood in Jajare is serious. My team could not access the village from the route they followed. They will have to take another route tomorrow to get to the village. From the report I gathered, the village has been submerged.”

     

     

     

     

  • Wike urges major oil firms to develop host communities

    Wike urges major oil firms to develop host communities

    Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has urged major oil companies in the state to give their host communities a sense of belonging.

    The governor enjoined the Management of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to include Rivers State indigenes in the sale of its oil wells to investors.

    Wike spoke yesterday in Port Harcourt, the state capital, during an audience with SPDC management. The governor noted that the nonchallant attitude of some oil companies to the development of their host communities bred distrust and conflicts.

    He said records showed that SPDC had not been partnering the state government to develop projects for its host communities.

    Wike advised the company to change its approach to enhance better community relations.

    He said: “It is imperative for oil companies to contribute to the development of their communities. Some people say these companies are not interested in their host communities because they are more concerned about themselves.  Let the communities living around the areas where you operate have a sense of belonging.”

    Wike said he had received unconfirmed reports that SPDC workers paid their taxes to another state.

    The governor said it would be unfortunate if that was true, adding that SPDC should resolve any issue in such areas.

    He assured the management of SPDC and other companies operating in the state of tight security to enable them carry out their legitimate businesses.

    According to him, the state government had concluded plans to ensure the receipt of the two armoured helicopters ordered by the previous administration for aerial surveillance of oil fields to prevent crude theft.

    Wike said it was important that qualified indigenes were  given the opportunity to buy into SPDC, since the company sells its onshore oil wells  to go offshore.

    The governor noted that the involvement of Rivers State indigenes in the ownership of SPDC would strengthen the bond of both parties.

    SPDC’s Managing Director Osagie Okunbor called for the sustenance of the 50-year-old relationship between the company and the state government.

    He urged the governor to enhance the security of the company’s workers and investments across the state.

    Okunbor assured that SPDC would continue to invest in its host communities to promote a better working relationship.

  • Communities, schools get agric training

    No fewer than 10 communities and five secondary schools in Ondo State have been trained by the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme of the Federal University Technology, Akure  (FUTA) for food production.

    The training was on information disseminations, capacity building on poultry management, fish pond management  and cassava multiplication.

    The project, which is a World Bank sponsored programme known as WAAPP-FUTA, started in  2013 but took off last year.

    FUTA Vice Chancellor Prof Adebiyi Daramola  spoke at the opening ceremony of the training programme.

    He expressed concern that the abject poverty and hardship being experienced in the nation with its attendant problems of hunger, misery, disease and starvation may not abate until the necessary mechanisms are put in place to address these daunting challenges through effective food processing strategies.

    According to him, the ever-increasing gap between population growth and food supply was the most serious threat to the survival of humanity.

    Daramola, who was represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Development), Prof. Tolulope Akinbogun, noted that addressing many of these challenges brought about the training by the WAAPP- FUTA initiative with the goal of increasing food supply by bridging the gap between the domestic food supply and the total food requirement.

    He said: “With these programmes in place, it becomes imperative that food insecurity should be a thing of the past. I think there is need for Nigeria to have Food Research Agenda that will be pursued since a well-articulated and founded research agenda will deliver the necessary capacities for knowledge-based development.”

    The Coordinator of WAAPP – FUTA, Prof. Taye Amos, noted that the most critical challenge  for governments globally was how to feed the world’s over 7 billion people and reduce poverty.

    According to him, the trend in world hunger has not abated with sub-Saharan Africa the worse hit.

    He said this was because 40 per cent of its population  live on less than $$ 1 per day and one in three people being undernourished and that since one in every four persons in the sub region is a  Nigerian, the need to look at the food situation is very critical.

    Amos pointed out that many authors have observed that there is high rate of increase in food prices due to deficit in local food production saying that WAAPP-FUTA is one of the steps towards mitigating the observations.

  • Okomu Oil, communities search for peace

    The management of Okomu Oil Company in Okomu, Ovia South West Local Government Area of Edo State, has canvassed for a good working relationship with members of the host communities where the company is located.

    The firm experienced shortfall in production last year when some Ijaw youths supposedly from Okomu community burnt some hectares of plantation and attacked workers of the firm.

    Managing Director of Okomu Oil, Dr Graham Hefer who spoke at a one day round table interaction with host communities, said he hoped to strike a mutual understanding with the host communities with a view to boosting the company’s social responsibility.

    Dr. Hefer said the interaction was to boost harmonious affinity between the company and the communities as well as identifying areas of needs of the host communities.

    According to him, “As a company we want to make sure that all our host communities understand how we wish to work together so as to tackle any issues or problem that may arise in the future.”

    “Since we started this interactive session, there has been strong peace and mutual relationship between the company host communities, including knowing the community corporate social needs. We have succeeded in employing many qualified indigenes across all host communities without discrimination and we are happy that the communities are working side by side with us to achieve more goals.”

    After the round table interaction, both parties agreed that the communities should provide peaceful environment for the company to thrive and that that company in return should place priority on the area of needs or request of communities.

    One of the community leaders, Mr. Ogbemudia Benjamin said the interaction had helped them to know the right and privileges of the communities and the company.

    He said, “The discussion has helped us to know the dos and don’ts in our dealings with the company. We are going to continue the existing peace and it is hoped that the interaction will assist both parties in dealing with each other”.

  • Abia oil communities’ youths list demands

    Abia oil communities’ youths list demands

    They are richly blessed with crude oil, but what do residents of Ukwa East and Ukwa West Local Government Areas in Abia State get for their endowments? Pretty little, say their angry youths.

    No different from abundantly endowed Niger Delta communities, infrastructure in Ukwa West and Ukwa East is woeful. The roads are impassable, there is no potable water, and where any facility exists, it is in a very bad state.

    Irked by this abysmal profile, youths from the two oil-rich councils under their umbrella body, Joint Youth Council of Ukwa, a pressure group, at the end of a mid-year review, listed their demands.

    The resolutions were taken after a special congress held in Umuebulungwu-Asa, Ukwa West LGA. The youths want both the state and federal government to address in their areas.

    In a communiqué signed by several of its leaders, the group called on the Abia State government to revive all moribund industrial, tourist and agricultural sites, in addition to resuscitation Ogwe Golden Chicken Farm, Abia Palm (Nig) Ltd, Akwete Weaving Industry and the Azumini Blue River in Ukwa.

    They also appealed to the Governor Okezie Ikpeazu to extend the ongoing road reconstruction exercise in Aba to Ukwa and to pay attention to Obohia-Ohuru-Aba Road, Ohanku-Aba and Ogwe-Obokwe-Uratta Junction roads.

    The group which noted that their communities have been in darkness for a year, pleaded with the Okezie-led government to change the Ukwa power phase to the nearby Afam Power Station since, according to them, the Ala-Oji Power Station was already overloaded.

    The youths also condemned the relocation of “prestigious Asa High School to a mere primary school block and the premises turned to a military barracks”.

    They called for the immediate vacation of the military or the relocation of Asa High School to a more befitting site, even as they hope that the famous and premier Ndoki Grammar School, Obohia should be upgraded to a campus of any of the state-owned tertiary institutions.

    Among other things that the youths clamoured for was the appointment of qualified indigenous Ukwa people into principal offices in both the executive and legislative arms of government. They stressed that they would no longer tolerate the recycling of people with no proven records of community service into government positions in the state.

    The Ukwa youth council equally expressed the hope that the new state government will, in its first 100 days in office, start work on the proposed Obeaku-Ndoki Sea Port. They also called for the relocation of the Abia State Oil Producing Area development Commission’s (ASOPADEC) office to Ukwa for effective and efficient service delivery and the increase in the commission’s annual budget.

    Part of their communiqué read, “The council pleads with the dynamic governor of Abia State, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu to give utmost priority to youth empowerment for Ukwa especially in the political appointments, entrepreneurship and business patronage.

    “The council heartily congratulates Dr. Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, the Governor of Abia State on his recent flag-off of mass road reconstruction in Aba.

    ”The council frowns at the recent political appointments so far made in the state as no Ukwa son or daughter was considered for the principal offices in the Executive or Legislative arms of the government. Such appointments should be given to qualified Ukwa sons and daughters with proven records of community service and as community appeal, as we will not tolerate the recycling of people who have no such track records”.

  • Oil mining leases: Emami makes case for communities

    A Niger Delta activist and one of the leaders of the oil-rich Ugborodo Community in Warri Local Government Area of Delta State, Chief Ayirimi Emami, has accused the Dr. Goodluck Jonathan administration of sidelining communities in oil mining leases.

    He called for a probe into ‘secret oil blocs’ operatorship’ contract allegedly entered with some private companies in the immediate past administration.

    Emami said there is the need for a critical look at the period of Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke’s headship of the petroleum industry.

    His position was contained in a petition to President Muhammadu Buhari, a copy of which was made available to Niger Delta Report.

    Emami, who is Chief Executive of A&E Petroleum, said many contracts entered into by the last administration flouted the open and competitive bid practice mandated by the Public Procurement Act.

    He said host communities were sidelined in the sales of the oil firms, noting that the Minister flouted an order that bidding for Oil Mining Leases (OMLs) 4, 26, 30, 34, 38, 41 and 42 be thrown open with host communities granted right of involvement.

    “The Federal Ministry of Petroleum flagrantly disobeyed the directive and surreptitiously granted the leases to non-indigenes against the Local Content Act or rights of preemption and /or first refusal by people of the host communities, who had the financial/technical capability to acquire them.”

    He faulted the sale of such assets to Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept Limited, which he said neither tendered nor bidded for the bloc, as well as the sale of Shell Petroleum Development Company’s stakes in OML 42 to Neconde Energy Limited.

    In the case of Atlantic Drilling Concept, Emami said “the company only paid upfront cash payment of little more than $50 million initial entrance fee, for a lease that should ordinarily cost no less than $ 800 million.

    He suggested the probe should provide insight into: “Why the immediate past Minister of Petroleum furtively approve Oil blocs’ rights to companies without due process and the yardstick for regulating the discretional allocation of Nigeria’s National Oil and Gas assets.

    “How does these ridiculous undervalued secretive allocations of Nigeria’s most lucrative Oil and Gas assets support or strengthen Nigeria’s economic and political integrity?

    “Why were companies which have interests in each other, such as, Seven Energy, Septa Energy, Seplat Energy and Atlantic Energy were favoured so much in the award of rights in OML 4, 26, 30, 34, 38, 41 and 42, and why did the former Minister of Petroleum violate industry guidelines and the Procurement Act to favour these companies?”