Nine communities comprising the Greater Port Harcourt Cluster Development Board under the Shell-sponsored Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) have so far received and expended the total of N221.56million for the sustainable development of their areas.

The communities include Rumuogba, Woji, and Rumuodara in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area and Elekahia, Orogbum, Oro-Abali, Rumuwoji, Mgbundukwu and Oro-Ije in Port Harcourt City Local Government Area, both in Rivers State.

The nine communities, which get an annual funding mandate of N73.8million, as one of the ten active clusters in Shell’s Eastern operations, has also judiciously expended the accruing oil revenue on various human and physical development projects designed to impact positively on the people.

The Tide learnt that these projects, which include human capital and physical infrastructure development, carefully selected and directly executed by the communities, 107 post-primary and post-secondary scholarships, 63 micro-credit and 62 skills acquisition schemes, as well as bore holes in 7 communities, transformers for 9 communities, drainage for 3 communities, civic centre in 1 community and road infrastructure upgrade in 1 community.  

Speaking while commissioning the soft projects aimed at improving the human capital development effort of the communities, Shell’s Manager, Government and Community Relations, East, Fufeyi Funkakpo, said the GMoU concept, introduced in 2006 as a transparent and accountable model with clear obligations for both SPDC and host communities, was designed to eliminate the inherent weaknesses in previous social performance strategies with a view to involving communities in directly identifying, implementing and managing their own development processes.

Funkakpo stated that the GMoU strategy was Shell’s way of availing communities the opportunity to participate and benefit from the oil and gas revenues accruing from their communities, and lauded the Greater Port Harcourt Cluster Development Board, the chiefs, youths and other stakeholders in the communities for their collective efforts in actualising this dream.

The Shell manager encouraged the people to continue the good work they have been doing to enhance their livelihoods and economies, and pledged the company’s support and partnership to the sustainable development of the communities.

Rivers State Commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Community Affairs, Dr Tammy Danagogo, expressed happiness that the Shell’s GMoU process has ushered in an era of peace and order in the communities, and stressed that the climate of peace has brought with it the level of achievement so far recorded in the sustainable development effort of the government.

Represented at the celebration of development milestones by his Special Adviser, Engr Kombo Johnson, the commissioner said that without peace, the communities would not have accomplished the giant strides they were now celebrating, and charged the people to continue to build on existing atmosphere of concord, cooperation and partnership as a means of sustaining the momentum.

He noted with gladness the fact that the Greater Port Harcourt Cluster communities were one of the most peaceful in the state, and thanked them for promoting peace and security of Rivers State, emphasising that government would continue to reward peaceful communities as a way of encourage the people to participate in governance. 

Also speaking, Paramount Ruler of Rumuorianwo community, Eze S.C. Wokoma, described the GMoU strategy as the brain box for the development of the Niger Delta region, and said the religious implementation of the concept has shown that if the government, corporate bodies and the communities work in synergy and strong partnership, sustainable development of the area could be achieved.

Wokoma, who chaired the occasion, said his experience with the GMoU strategy as a community leader has proven that if Niger Delta communities embrace the concept, and position themselves on the driver’s seat for the development of their respective communities, peace would return to the region, and sustainable development would be achieved in record time.  

The royal father, therefore, admonished government at all tiers, to adopt the GMoU strategy in their development policies, as according to him, this would enable the government drive the dividends of democracy deeper into the very fabric of the grassroots, and thereby touch the lives of the people.

Earlier, Chairman, GPHCDB, Dickens Worlu, commended Shell and the GMoU team for mentoring the clusters to the level of growth and viability, and urged that the strategy be sustained for the development of host communities.

The GPHCDB chairman said the success of the board in the last three years could not have possible without the assistance of Shell and the state government, adding that the soft projects commissioned in the first phase on that day, and the physical infrastructure development projects expected to be commissioned on November 11 in the benefiting communities were an eloquent testimony of the fruit of cooperation and partnership for development. 

Worlu also expressed appreciation to the Rivers State Government, especially the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Community Affairs for their support and sincerity of purpose, and pledged the readiness of the people of impacted communities to cooperate and work in synergy with government and other stakeholders to fast track the development process of the state. 

Dignitaries who graced the occasion are the Paramount Ruler of Elekahia community, Eze A.W. Akarolo, Paramount Ruler of Rumuodara community, Eze Ohia Chukwu, Secretary, Woji Council of Chiefs, Chief Emeka Ihunwo, Eze Ogba Iji-Nu-Ede of Rumuogba community, Eze Temple Ejekwu, Eze Kpalukwu-Ozo Orianwo, Chief F.B. Amadi, and Eze Njim Omolu of Rumu Chinwo Mati, Eze Owhonda Nyeche, among other top community leaders, women, youths as well as beneficiaries of the human capacity building programmes of the GPHCDB.

Nelson Chukwudi