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Tag: ocean

  • Lekki LCDA chief lauds action on ocean surge

    Lekki LCDA chief lauds action on ocean surge

    The Chairman, Lekki Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Rasak Kasali, has lauded a member of the House of Representatives, representing Epe Federal Constituency, Hon. Wale Raji, for his timely intervention on ocean surge in the area.

    The chairman expressed his appreciation to Raji for his prompt intervention to their needs within short notice and said that the intervention was not only life saving but has made all the difference in the direction of the lives of the people.

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    The council boss who expressed this during the foundation laying for a block of classrooms emphasised the importance of primary education in rural areas and said: “Ocean surge has gotten closer to the old primary school that was built in Akando-ise and the immediate intervention has really uplifted the development of the area.”

    He further commended the Raji for all he had been doing for Epe Division and his constituency.

    The Baales and representatives of the community also expressed their joy and relieve at the intervention. They said they were rest assured that the children would be safer in the relocation of the school to a higher ground away from the surging ocean.

    The Acting Vice Chancellor, Lagos State University College of Education, Morufudeen Shittu, highlighted the importance of primary education in rural areas. He stated that primary education contributed to whom they are today.

    “Without primary school, there won’t be any education in this village”, he said.

  • OCEAN: REMOTE CONTROLLER INSPIRED MY CAREER

    UP and coming musician Israel Uwangue, who sings with the stage name, Ocean is set to make a name for himself in the music industry.

    The WTB records act who started singing professionally in 2015 said he discovered his musical talents while practicing in the house for his parents with the remote controller.

    Ocean who disclosed that he is currently working in the studio for his next single, listed Fela Kuti, Lagbaja, Bob Marley as his msuical influences and said he is confident his style will take him to the forefront of the industry.

    “I’ve got a unique style of music and yes I believe I would succeed because the sky is wide enough for billions of birds to fly and also know how to deal with that,” said Ocean.

    “With God all things are possible.”

    Although Ocean showed interest in music as a kid but his dad however wanted him to be to be a graduate before venturing fully into music.” my dad wanted me to finish my degree in the university before kicking off my music career which slowed me down kind off”

    Speaking about his genre of music, Ocean said, “I call my type of music AfroPop because it is a mixture of afrobeat and hiphop with trap flavour in it.”

  • Niger Delta coastal communities appeal to Fed Govt to check ocean encroachment

    Residents of communities located near the Atlantic Ocean and coastline in Niger Delta area have appealed to the Federal Government and relevant authorities to save them from the devastating effects of coastal erosion.

    The affected areas are Forcados and Ogulagha in Delta; Anibeze, Peremabiri, Famgbe, Anyama Ijaw, Anyama Ogbia, Twon-Brass, Sangana, Ekeni and Ezetu in Bayelsa.

    Also Kula, Soku and Bonny in Rivers; Queens Town in Cross River are being threatened by the menace of the Atlantic Ocean surge.

    Henry Otonye, an indigene of Sangana, said the community is gradually disappearing from the surface of the earth, while they have lost substantial part of their ancestral land to Ocean encroachment.

    Mr Alagoa Morris, an environmentalist and indigene of Southern Ijaw, in Bayelsa, warns that apart from the imminent disappearance of the communities, there is the threat of increased inter communal clashes due to scramble for space.

    “People are now relocating from most of these communities. Communities have lost roads, electricity generators, church buildings, school buildings.

    “When you go to areas on the fringes of the Atlantic Ocean such as Brass, Sangana, Odioma, Koluama, even graves and ancestral homes are now in the water.

    “Homes are being deserted. You can see that this can lead to communal crisis when people begin to shift inwards into lands where they are in contention with their neighbours,” Morris said.

    He called for concerted efforts to halt the encroachment of the Atlantic which is worsened by rising sea levels due to increased oil exploration activities.

    Princess Elizabeth Egbe, a human rights activist, said in spite 13 per cent derivation fund coastal communities were neglected.

    She decried the hazards faced by the people who are now at the mercy of Ocean encroachment and coastal erosion.

    Assembly sets up committee to look into pensioners’ problems in Akwa Ibom

    The Akwa Ibom House of Assembly at plenary on Wednesday set up an ad hoc committee to interface with stakeholders on the problems facing pensioners in the state.

    The 7-man committee, headed by House Leader, Mr Udo Kierian, was mandated to unravel the true situation of things surrounding pension matters.

    The intervention was sequel to a motion of urgent public importance moved by Mr Idongesit Ituen (PDP- Itu State Constituency]

    Ituen had informed the house of the protest carried out by Nigeria Union of Pensioners in the state on Monday, over non-payment of gratuity and pensions.

    He said the state government, at the inception of the current administration, cleared backlog of pensions and salaries.

    He added that the protest could put the image of the state in disrepute if not looked into.

    The committee had two weeks to submit its report to the house.

    The committee was directed to look into alleged non-refund of 7.5 per cent contributory pension to some category of workers in Akwa Ibom.

    The Speaker, Onofiok Luke, said the house would always defend the rights of the people.

    “It is our avowed commitment to always see to it that we defend the interest of the people and be seen at all times to be an unbiased umpire.

    “We must also be seen to be making decision from an informed position and appreciate the governor’s efforts in paying the backlog of arrears of pensions and salaries,’’ he said.

  • Koluama’s angry ocean

    The ocean is angry in two Ijaw communities, Koluama I and II in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, Bayelsa State. For this, the communities are on the dge. The youths have cried out over gradual disappearance of  their homes.

    A surge from the Atlantic Ocean has been swallowing the communities in piecemeal and forcing many residents to flee their ancestral homes.

    In June last year, it was reported that the tidal current of the sea rose, overflew its bank and emptied into the Koluama River.

    Residents of the communities raised the alarm that they were exposed to the direct attack of waves and tidal currents from the sea.

    Shortly after the incident, panic-stricken traditional rulers of the communities rushed to Yenagoa, the state capital, lamenting threats by the sea to wash away the communities.

    The traditional rulers of Koluama Clan, King S.E. Edi-Mangi; Koluama 1 community, JTC Leghemo and Koluama ll community, N.E. Ogboinbiri-Mienye, then took turns to decry the development.

    They traced their woes to the activities of oil companies operating in the area particularly the Koluama-Chevron gas explosion and fire outbreak that occurred in the area in January 16, 2012.

    They complained that the explosion which emanated from the gas drilling rig, K.S. Endevour, owned by Chevron Nigeria Limited caused earth tremors and vibrations in the communities.

    “Several houses suffered in the communities. They suffered cracks in their walls and foundations,” they said.

    The traditional rulers who were accompanied to Yenagoa by youths from the communities recalled that they had earlier warned that if remedial measures were not taken on time, their communities would sink in no time.

    It was learnt that because no action had been taken by the Federal Government to address the concerns of the communities, the water level had continued to rise against Koluama.

    Youths under the aegis of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Worldwide on Sunday called on the Federal Government to direct the Federal Ministry of Environment to take urgent steps to avert the impending humanitarian and environmental disaster at Koluama communities.

    The IYC, in a statement by its spokesman, Mr. Eric Omare,  said the sea would totally swallow the communities if the government failed to identify the real cause of the surge and nip it in the bud.

    “These communities especially Koluama 2 is at the risk of being overtaken by the ocean which has taken a substantial part of the land on which the community is situated and if urgent steps are not taken the entire Koluama 2 Community may not exist in the nearest future.

    “This is an impending humanitarian and environmental disaster which can be averted if urgent proactive steps are taken”,  he said.

    He noted that the situation in Koluama had been worsened by decades of oil exploration and exploitation by Chevron.

    He accused the company of not providing commensurate corporate social responsibility to ameliorate the environmental hazards suffered by the community.

    “Chevron’s wilful refusal to pay compensation for damages arising from the 2012 gas explosion coupled with the abject poverty in the community speaks volume of the level of abandonment”, he said.

    He added: “The IYC is appalled by the insensitivity of the federal Ministry of Environment to the situation being faced by the Koluama Communities despite the fact that the IYC had drawn the Ministry’s attention to the situation in June 2014.

    “To the IYC, the Koluama issue just like the other environmental crisis in the Niger Delta is a personal challenge to President Jonathan who is an environmentalist and very familiar with the problem, hence we call on him to act now and save the Koluama communities from extinction.”

  • Boat mishap: Divers locate vessel in ocean bed

    •Crew unaccounted for 

    The fate of 12 crew members of the ill-fated tugboat, Jascon 4, belonging to a contractor working for Chevron Nigeria Limited in Escravos area of Delta State remains uncertain last night nearly 48 hours after the accident.

    It was gathered that divers searching for the sunken vessel, owned by a subsidiary of Sea Trucks Group (STG), West Africa Ventures, located it yesterday.

    The vessel was towing a foreign crude oil tanker from the sea to the Single Bouy Mooring (SBM) #3, a terminal located about 30km off Escravos, Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State.

    Sources said because of the size of the tankers it was necessary to use smaller vessels as the Jascon 4 to guide them to the load facility before they are filled.

    It was during the course of performing the routing tension tow that the incident occurred.

    The Nation learnt that there were 11 Nigerians and one expatriate, whose identity was not immediately known, on board.

    Sources said there were no signs of survivors or the remains of victims, despite patrol by a search and rescue team deployed by Chevron.

    The development erased any hope of finding any of the dozen crew members alive.

    Chevron’s General Manager, Policy Government and Public Affairs Deji Haastrup confirmed that none of the crew members had been found.

    But he neither confirmed nor deny our inquiry on whether the vessel had been located.

    “I can only confirm that they are still conducting a search and rescue operation and so far they have still not been able to find anyone.”

    A source at the offshore loading facility, owned by CNL, told our reporter that most of the crew members were sleeping in their cabins with doors locked from the inside, when the accident occurred.

    Our source, who pleaded for anonymity, said: “It was about 5am when the accident occurred. The vessel was one of the three towing a tanker to the loading point when it occurred.

    “The sea was very rough and the wave was beating on the vessel and it was windy and turbulent.

    “The tension rope snapped and obviously unbalanced the vessel thereby causing it to capsize,” our source added.

    It was gathered that two officials from STG in the US are on their way to Nigeria as part of a fact-finding mission to the scene tomorrow.

    It was further learnt that a fact-finding mission comprising the two experts, official of the Nigeria Maritime and Security Agency (NIMASA), CNL and some other government functionaries would visit the scene tomorrow.

    “They have located the vessel in the belly of the ocean, but because the cabins were apparently locked when the accident occurred.”

    Expectedly, reports of the incident caused panic among families who have relatives working for Chevron and its contractors yesterday.

    A source at the Escravos Tank Farm told our reporter that the company was inundated with several calls from relatives desperate to speak to their relations.