The Nation Newspaper

Tag: COMMUNITY

  • Imo community protests oil spillage at Shell’s pipeline

    Residents of Umudike in Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State yesterday protested a massive crude oil spillage on the Umudike-Assa-Rumuekpe oil pipeline owned by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).

    The protesters accused SPDC of neglect, hazardous practices and inhuman treatments.

    They said the protest was to prevent the company from hurriedly covering up the spillage without undertaking the required Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to determine the extent of the damage on the environment.

    According to them, this was not the first time a spillage would occur without the company compensating the community.

    The community said: “In 1997, there was a spillage that was poorly handled by the company. In 2001, there was another massive oil spillage, which resulted in an explosion and burnt over 13 people to death. Several others were badly burnt and incapacitated.”

    Speaking on the scene of the spillage, which was manned by heavily armed soldiers, the community’s youth leader, Mr. Ogini Reginald, said: “This is not the first time they have done this act of sabotage and we are prepared to resist them until the right thing is done. Since this company came into this community in 1964, it has not done anything to improve the living standard of the people. There are no hospitals, schools, good roads and over 100 graduates from this community are unemployed.”

    The protesters demanded, among other things, that SPDC removes its old pipes and replaces them with new ones to avoid spillage, compensation to the community for environmental damage from previous incidents and provision of employment opportunities for youths.

    A 99-year-old woman, Mama Felicia, tearfully said their land is no longer fertile for agriculture.

    The traditional ruler of Umudike Autonomous community, Ezeali James Nwanro, said: “When the spillage occurred, SPDC contacted me, and I told them to carry out their preliminary assessment to ascertain if the spillage was an act of sabotage or equipment failure before the issue of compensation should arise.”

  • Ondo community vows not to vote for Oke

    RESIDENTS of Ala Goke in Idanre Local Government Area of Ondo State have vowed not to vote for the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olusola Oke.

    They accused him of abandoning an electricity project contract, which he secured from the Olusegun Agagu administration in 2003.The residents drew the attention of Governor Olusegun Mimiko to the project during his campaign tour of the area at the weekend.

    They vowed not to vote for Oke or any of his party members in future elections until he completes the project.
    The people noted that by Oke’s action, the agrarian community has been in darkness since then.

    Speaking through one of its leaders, Mr. Moses Oladeji, the community said the electricity project was awarded to Chief Olusola Oke by the immediate past Dr. Olusegun Agagu led administration in year 2003 and has since been left uncompleted. The people noted that for Oke, it was now time for reckoning as they would ensure that he did not get a single vote from them.

    Dr Olusegun Mimiko who was in the community to commission a Health Centre constructed by his administration was briefed further of the agony being experienced by the people of the community as a result of the abandonment of the project. They called on the governor to assist them in calling the attention of the PDP governorship candidate to the project which they believe would connect them to the outside world.

    Mimiko assured the people that he will do something on the project as soon as he received detailed reports on the project. He stated that he would not allow any project to be left uncompleted by any contractor, especially when such contractor had been paid for the contract.

    Dr Mimiko who also disclosed that the Health Centre project which was one of the 64 projects executed by his administration in Idanre Local government in the last three and a half years of the Labour party administration in the state.

    According to him, the health Centre which was constructed by Idanre local Government would go a long way in bailing the people out of the problems of travelling several kilometres whenever in need of health care services.

    Mimiko promised that he would use his second term in office to provide more social infrastructure for the people of the area especially road construction for the community to be linked to their neighbouring communities. The Labour party Governorship candidate who turned the campaign tour to a season of project commissioning also commissioned a block of six classrooms at Ala-Elefosan Community High School to replace the old school structure built since 1978.

    Addressing the people of the community Dr Mimiko appealed to all ethnic groups living in different parts of Idanre land and the state at large to live peacefully with their host communities; warning parents against planting seeds of discord among their children who he described as the core of the unity of the country, adding that parents should not leave a legacy of discord among their children.

    The governor who noted that no physical development can take place in any environment devoid of peace appealed to the hosting communities to see non-indigenes living among them as fellow Nigerians.

    According to him, the development witnessed in the last three and a half years of the Labour Party administration was as a result of the efforts of his administration to restore peace to the state, calling on the people of the state to work towards the sustenance of peace among them.

    The governor described the school project as a demonstration of his administration’s resolve to improve on the standard of education in the state and government intervention to make learning more conducive for students at all levels of education.

    Soliciting for votes of the people in Oct 20 governorship election, Governor Mimiko assured the people of the state to use his second term in office to extend his transformational revolution to all nooks and crannies of the state, adding that his administration would meet the needs of the people of the state.

    The Governor who also visited Owena town was received to the town with songs and dance by the people in appreciation of various developmental projects executed in their area by the state government.

    Addressing the people, Mimiko assured them that his administration will continue to bring the dividends of democracy to the doorsteps of every community by embarking on projects that will transform the lives of the people. He noted that all projects executed in different parts of the state were done according to the request of the people, adding that no project was forcibly executed in any community in the state.

    Receiving hundreds of defectors from the opposition parties led by Hon Adeolu Oluwatuyi, Governor Mimiko noted that only the Labour Party administration in the state could meet the needs of the people through its Caring Heart Programmes. The good work his administration and the urban-rural transformational programmes of the Labour Partyled administration, Mimiko stated, had touched the lives of everybody in the state, adding that people should be expecting more during his second term.

    The leader of the defectors Mr. Adeolu Oluwatuyi said that he decided to dump PDP for Labour Party in consideration of overwhelming performances of Labour Party administration in the last three and a half years of its governance.
    According to him, the good work executed by the governor and his selfless services to the people of the state had endeared him into the heart of people, including members of the opposition party.

    Oluwatuyi, therefore, promised to work with the leaders of the Labour Party in the Local government to ensure total victory for Labour Party candidate in Oct 20 election.

  • Community head accuses businessman of threatening the peace

    Community head accuses businessman of threatening the peace

    The traditional head of Oko-Olomi community, Ibeju-Lekki Local Government Area of Lagos State, Oba Tajudeen Elemoro, has accused a businessman, Oluwafemi Bakare, of engaging in acts capable of threatening public peace.
    The accusation is contained in Elemoro’s counter affidavit to a fundamental rights enforcement application filed by Bakare and others before the High Court, Lagos. He averred, in a supporting affidavit, that as against the businessman’s claim, he was a victim of Bakare’s alleged violent activities.
    Bakare, the head of Eleku family, Tajudeen Mojeed Eleku and four others had sued Chief Shamba Elemoro, Ola Olowu, Semsi Elemoro and Molikiu Raji and accused them of instigating men of the Nigeria Police against them
    The plaintiffs accused Elemoro and others of petitioning the police and seeking their arrest for alleged violent conduct.
    They urged the court to restrain the police and their agents from inviting, arresting and detaining them in respect of the petition purportedly written by the defendants.
     Elemoro averred that contrary to Bakare’s deposition that he and others have been exercising unhindered right of ownership over a disputed piece of land at Oko-Olomi village, Olowu who is the Baale of the village (and one of the defendants) was the victim of the violent activities of the applicants.
    Insisting that the disputed land belonged to his family, Elemoro stated that the said land was excised to their family by the state government.
    Elemoro further averred that the state government acquired all the land from Moaroko to Epe in 1981 and repeated the acquisition in 1993 but in 2007 the government vide a Gazzete dated 22 February, 2007 returned some of the land acquired from his family to them.
    “It is not, therefore, true that when Oba Tajudeen Olowu became the Oba he planned to take over the land belonging to the applicants by using the police. Rather, the police were carrying out their lawful duties after a petition was written to the Inspector General of Police, complaining of the applicant’s violent activities.
    “The real intention of the applicants in filing this suit is to obtain an order of the court with which they can forcefully enter the defendants’ family land granted them through excision in the Gazette of 2007,” he stated.
    He further averred that Bakare was never arrested as claimed. He stated that Bakare  was only invited by the Area Commander of Area J Police Station. He stated that after the businessman was interviewed by the police,  it became clear that he is not a member of the Okunnu Eleku family and that the respondents have always reported his activities to the police.
    Justice A. Oluwafemi while adjourning the case to September 25 ordered that status quo be maintained.

  • Ekiti spends N238m on community development

    Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi at the weekend presented N238 million cheques to 26 communities for the development of vital projects through the state’s Community and Social Development Agency (EKSCDA).

    The governor said he would continue to ensure that all communities enjoy the dividends of democracy.
    At the ceremony in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, the governor explained that the gesture was not just a proactive measure to improve the well-being of grassroots residents but also in fulfillment of his administration’s vision of reducing poverty as enshrined in its Eight-Point Agenda.

    Fayemi explained that the 26 communities would execute a minimum of three micro projects through the Community Development Plan.

    The governor expressed optimism that the projects would further enhance the development of the communities.
    He explained that about 78 projects with direct impact on the people would be financed through the initiative.

  • Panic in Anambra community as landslide, erosion ruin 50 buildings

    Panic in Anambra community as landslide, erosion ruin 50 buildings

    •Residents flee in droves, send SOS to govt
    The inhabitants of Oko,  Local Government Area, Anambra State, are living in fear following a continuous landslide which has been ravaging a part of the community since February 18 this year. Already, many indigenes of the town whose houses have been ‘swallowed’ in the landslide have abandoned their ancestral homes to seek refuge elsewhere.
    When our reporter visited the area on Wednesday, many of the residents were busy moving out of the area for fear of being consumed in another landslide that may occur at any time. Some of them told our reporter that they needed to leave the community because it had experienced the ugly development about five times since it first occurred in February, adding that no fewer than 50 houses had been consumed already.
    The villagers, some of who embarked on a peaceful demonstration with placards bearing various inscriptions, appealed to the state and federal governments to come to their aid.  One of the victims, Ezeokeke Josiah, said he lost money and property worth more than N7.5 million to landslide, calling on the authorities to come to the community’s aid.
    The Chairman, Erosion Ecological Committee in the town, Mr. Barnabas Nwafor, described the situation as hopeless, saying there appeared to be no help in sight. He recalled that the first landslide which took place on February 18, 2012 had jolted everyone. He recalled that as at that time, residents of the area believed it was a one-off incident that would not occur again. But in six months, more than 800 metres of land had been consumed by landslide.
    He attributed the phenomenon to the washing away by erosion of a big water channel constructed by the Shehu Shagari administration, which resulted in heavy flooding of the gully in the area. Nwafor also blamed sand excavation around the local government for the gully erosion that has ravaged the community for a long time.
    He said: “We have written the government to send a task force to stop further excavation of sand, especially from the base around Amaokpala and Awgbu communities, but nothing has been done as sand excavators still operate between 11 pm and 4 am.”
    He noted that the most ravaged part of the community was his Ezioko village, which has tried to no avail to contain the menace by forming several groups whose mission was to stop further encroachment of erosion before the last landslide occurred.
    He said: “Every last Saturday of the month, the group plants trees along the erosion areas. Every family has been mandated to dig catchment pits around their compounds to trap rain water (flood). When we noticed that the water channel was being cut off by erosion, we bought about 200 bags of cement to salvage it. But our efforts yielded little or no result as the water channel was eventually cut off. Since then, the landslide has been occurring.”
    He lamented that apart from the now cut off water channel constructed by the Shagari/Ekwueme regime, no other government has tried to contain the erosion menace, adding that even when the first landslide occurred, there was no government presence apart from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) which brought in some relief materials like blankets, bags of rice and beans, among others.
    He, therefore, appealed to the governments to come to the community’s aid. “What we want the government to do now is just a palliative measure to stop the flood from entering the gully by channelling it elsewhere. After the first landslide, the state government came and made promises of awarding the contract. But up till now, nothing has been seen,” he said.
    Nwafor recalled also that the member representing the area in the House of Representatives, Hon. Ben Nwankwo, who visited after the first landslide, expressed sympathy and promised to take it up on the floors of the House, but nothing had been heard from him.
    “We have no option but to turn to the media to, at least, make our plights known to the world, especially the Federal Government and the World Bank. We feel the menace is beyond the state government, though the state can still do something to prevent further encroachment,” he stated.
    Another leader in the village, Hon. Martin Ezeofor, said his prayer was for the government to come to their aid. Ezeofor added: “As things stand, our houses have been swallowed by landslide. We are sending a save-our-soul signal to the government. We have been turned into refugees in our land. Some of my kids have stopped schooling.”
    He commended NEMA for the relief materials it gave to landslide victims in February. But he said that such materials were not really needed, adding that what the community needed most was the control of the flood that has caused them pains.
    In his own contribution, the secretary of the village and member of the community’s Erosion Vanguard Committee, Paulinus Ezenwizube, said: “I want to appeal to the Federal Government via the state government to come to our rescue. The inhabitants of this area have become refugees in their ancestral homes. Erosion has overtaken their residence. About 50 buildings have been consumed by both erosion and landslide and many more are endangered.
    “Many people have come here in the past promising that the situation would be controlled in no distant time, but nothing has been done. We are appealing through this medium for government’s intervention. We need positive action from the government.
    “The village has tried on its own. Even our brothers overseas have sent in some money for more catchment pits around the area. The Federal Government should intervene. The menace is beyond the ability of the community and the state government.”
    It will be recalled that the traditional ruler of Oko, Prof. Laz Ekwueme, while calling for assistance from the Federal Government and the World Bank after the first landslide in February, warned that if nothing was done before the rainy season, the problem would get worse.
    He had also disclosed that the contract for the control of the erosion that probably triggered the landslide had been awarded for a long time but was abandoned for no known reasons. He decried a situation where government played politics with such an important project that affects the lives of the people directly.
    He had warned that if the menace was not checked before the rainy season, many buildings would be eroded, including his ancestral home, because the abandoned drainage project that had been checking the erosion had been cut off by the landslide. The monarch’s palace sits only a few metres away from the site of the landslide.
     In a related development, the Federal Polytechnic Oko, Anambra State, called for the intervention of the Federal Government to tackle the menace of erosion, which it said was threatening to wash away its extension site. The Rector, Prof. Godwin Onu, who made the appeal when Hon. Ben Nwankwo, who represents the area in the House of Representatives undertook a tour of the area, said the polytechnic did not have the wherewithal to tackle the menace.
    He said the menace of erosion, which was rocking the host community, was gradually ravaging the extension site of the polytechnic. He called for government’s assistance in tackling it. Nwankwo said he would raise the issue at the House of Representatives. He commended the Rector for the judicious use of resources and his ingenuity in turning the polytechnic around.
  • Community laments incessant flooding

    Community laments incessant flooding

    •Govt: help on the way

    FOR residents of Ifelodun Street in Dopemu, Agege, a Lagos suburb, whenever it rains, it is a nightmare.
    Their houses and streets are usually flooded and properties destroyed.
    This is what they experience every year.  They urged  the government to intervene after taking our reporter round the area yesterday.
    The Chairman, Dopemu Community Development Association (DCDA), Revd. Adetunji Fagbemi, and other members of Ifelodun Street Landlords Association, said the area should be declared a disaster zone, adding that help “should urgently be extended to the area to address the plight of the people presently living there to prevent any disaster.”
    Fagbemi said: “For the umpteenth time, we are appealing to the Lagos State Government to come to the aid of the people of Ifelodun Street, Dopemu by completing the canal that seemed to have been abandoned for a very long time, leading to a yearly nightmare for the residents who have been at the receiving end of heavy flooding in their area.”
    He blamed the flood on the abandoned canal.
    According to him, the canal which came to an abrupt  end near a pharmacy should have been channelled to link Valley Estate, by Cement Bus Stop on the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, but it was abandoned, leaving the people to bear the brunt.
    He said while the canal which used to be an earth canal was cleaned and cemented upland  from Oko-Oba and Orile-Agege area few years ago, it was abandoned at Ifelodun Street only to be continued at Cement Bus Stop.
    “The result has been that all the water coming from Ogba, Oko-Oba, Pen-Cinema, Oke-Koto, and Orile-Agege end up flooding the Ifelodun area, with all houses in the area usually submerged any time it rains,” Fagbemi said.
    He said though no lives have been lost to the flood, the challenge of climate change and the prediction of an intense rainfall by the Nigeria Meteorological Institute (NIMET), have compelled the people to again raise the alarm that the whole area might be under threat if the flood is not checked.
    He said the street, which is an alternative road that motorists could take to bypass the busy Dopemu Bridge in getting to the Abeokuta Expressway, by Iyana Dopemu, has become impassable because of the collateral damage done  flood in the past.
    Another resident  urged the government to alleviate the sufferings of the residents.
    “You need to see the apprehension on the faces of residents any time rain threatens to fall. The entire road would become impassable and accessing their homes would be an uphill task for them. Sadly, I grew up to see this place like this, and I can say nothing has changed in the past 25 years that I have lived in this area. It is affecting the quality of lives of all residents and we can only appeal to the state government to come to our rescue,” he said.
    An official of the Ministry of the Environment, who spoke on condition of anonymity, promised that the ministry would  intervene to lessen the suffering of the people.
    He advised the residents to always liaise with the drainage officer in charge of the area for effective dissemination of information concerning  the government’s activities and how their area could benefit.
    A list of officials posted to  the 20 local governments and 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDA, was recently published by the Ministry.

  • A lift for Oyo communities

    •Sunday Adepoju and others

    Things are looking up in different parts of Oyo State. In Saki West Local Government Area, the chairman, Hon Dapo Popoola gave out jobs tools to residents.

    In Eruwa, Ibarapa East Local Government Area, Hon. Sunday Sunday Adepoju, a lawmaker of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), also handed out work tools to the people. In Oyo South Senatorial District, Senator Olufemi Lanlehin inaugurated over 10 automated boreholes to ease the perrenial water challenges in the area.

    Changes hardly come without sacrifices . The people’s representatives elected to positions of authority had made tremendous effort to demonstrate good governance to the people at the grassroots.

    Hon. Popoola, the House of Representatives member representing Ibarapa East /Ido federal constituency, Hon. Adepoju  and  Senator Lanlehin representing Oyo South Senatorial District have lifted the spirits of their people. It was  a time to render an account of their stewardship in the last one year.

     The people beamed with a smile, as they savoured the  new lease of life .
    “It has never been so good in the history of the state,” Alfa Muideen Kola, a farmer in Saki West told this reporter during  the distribution of working tools to beneficiaries.

     A few months after the donation of seven solar-powered boreholes to the communities, Lanlehin extended the gesture to six more communities.

     The communities where the borehole projects were recently commissioned for public use include: Iberekodo in Igbo-Ora (Ibarapa Central Local Government), Ido township (Ido Local Government), Adabeji-Moor Plantation (Ibadan South West Local Government), Felele (Ibadan South East Local Government), Orita-Aperin (Ibadan South East Local Government) and Oje (Ibadan North East Local Government ).

     Lanlehin, accompanied by a mammoth crowd made up of chieftains and members of the ACN as well as other supporters, assured the residents of each community where the projects were located of better things to come as long as they kept faith with the government of his party at all levels.

    He said: “Provision of ultra-modern boreholes in your various communities is just a token of what we plan to offer in fulfilment of our campaign promises. All we require from you is maximum cooperation and peaceful co-existence to enable us provide more good governance and dividends of democracy to all and sundry.”

    The Oluaso of Iberekodo community in Igbo-Ora, Oba Jamiu Adedamola Badmus, led other traditional, religious and community leaders to inaugurate the borehole in his domain. The monarch was full of appreciation to the lawmaker who he described as a rare breed politician.

    Similarly, the Onido of Ido, Chief Tajudeen Akinola Agura, could not hide his happiness over the borehole cited in his community.
    He demonstrated this by conferring the chieftaincy title of Otunba Onido of Idoland on Senator Lanlehin, complete with a staff of office presented to the lawmaker at the occasion.

    Alhaji Muibi Yusuff, led the people of his community to welcome Lanlehin and his entourage at the borehole site in Felele community.

    Party chieftains such as Mr. Arowolo and Ademola Adegoke were also on hand to convey the goodwill message of the residents to the Senator who they urged to move ahead to empower the youths in his selfless service to humanity.
    At Oje market, venue of another borehole project commissioning, the Gbonka Olubadan, High Chief Delesolu saluted Lanlehin’s courage, noting that he was always willing to assist his people without discrimination.
    He, however, urged the benefiting communities to make good use of the boreholes.

    While acknowledging cheers from the crowd at Aperin where he had launched one of the six projects, Senator Lanlehin hinted that the general public would always be carried along in his activities as a representative of the people.

    At Saki town, hundreds of rural dwellers as well as members of the ACN trooped out in joyous mood to witness the distribution of N7.2million worth of working tools for artisans, and traders includinghairdressers, barbers, fashion-designers and tailors, among others.

     The ACN leader in the Oke-Ogun area of the state, a former National Chairman of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), Chief Michael Adeniyi Koleoso and the paramount ruler, the Okere of Saki, Oba Kilani Olatoyese Olarinre II and the state Deputy Governor, Chief Moses Alake, led hundreds of the people of the ancient community to the two-storey Town Hall, venue of the event.