Rivers
Community Protests Firm’s Alleged Neglect
The people of Nkpolu Oroworukwo Port Harcourt City Local Government Area of Rivers State, have protested their alleged neglect by the Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC).
The community hosts the Corporate headquarters of Nigeria Agip Oil Company in Port Harcourt.
The community on Wednesday staged a peaceful demonstration at the main gate of the company under the aegis of Nkpolu Oroworukwo Stakeholders Development Forum (NOSDF) and called on Agip to fulfil its corporate social responsibility to its host.
The Chairman of NOSDF, Livingstone Wechie, who led the protest, said NAOC had consistently denied the community its due rights and privileges in the areas of employment, contracts, scholarships, skills acquisition, infrastructure and social amenities.
He regretted that there was no identifiable project in their community that could be credited to NAOC such as roads, hospitals, scholarships, employment, schools and water.
He said: “NAOC has refused to fully implement any of the skewed and dried Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), upgrade or renew same in any manner that will genuinely expand and make lasting resourceful impact on the people of Nkpolu Oroworukwo in line with its corporate social responsibilities.
“It has not captured Nkpolu Oroworukwo in any Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMOU). This by itself is betrayal of global best practice and sabotage of the Rivers State Government and Federal Government efforts towards peace and development in the Niger Delta, Nkpolu Oroworukwo in particular.
“Regrettably, there are no identifiable projects in NkpoluOroworukwo credited to Agip ENI NAOC ranging from roads to hospitals, scholarships, employment, empowerment opportunities, contract opportunities, schools, or even boreholes or community town halls and civic centre to say the least. We challenge NAOC to contest these facts.”
The community said the company had over the years denied them employment opportunities, among other privileges.
“It is also on record that NAOC appears to have as a rigid policy to deliberately shut Nkpolu Oroworukwo people out of their viable contract opportunities, empowerment and employment opportunities.
“This is with exception to some of its divide and rule agents, which it continues to patronise at the detriment of the community. As long as NAOC is concerned, the community can die and nothing will happen. This is condemnable and absolutely unacceptable.
“NAOC continues to treat Nkpolu Oroworukwo matters as a corporate policy of discrimination. They prefer to treat better those communities that have violent dispositions.
“Every effort we have employed to ensure that NAOC rethinks its attitude towards our community has been flagrantly undermined by the management of the company, using their usual divide and rule tactics through some backend.
“NAOC should be made to do the needful by answering as well as compensating for its deliberate corporate negligence and injustice.”
Attempt to obtain the reaction of NAOC on the issue, however, proved abortive.
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Rivers Judiciary Denies Issuing Court Order Stopping SOLAD from Swearing in RSCSC Members
The Rivers State Judiciary has denied a media report claiming that Justice Frank Onyiri of the State High Court issued an injunction order restraining the Sole Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (rtd), from inaugurating the newly appointed members of the Rivers State Civil Service Commission (RSCSC).
In a statement issued by the Deputy Chief Registrar in charge of litigation at the High Court, Menenen Poromon (Esq), the state Judiciary disassociated itself from the report, describing it as malicious and fabricated.
The statement emphasized that the report was a falsehood and a misrepresentation of what transpeared in the court.
Poromon clarified that no such order was issued by Justice Onyiri or any other judge of the High Court of the state and urged the public to disregard the information, as it lacked any iota of truth.
The statement however advised the public to verify any information concerning the state Judiciary directly from the office of the Chief Registrar, High Court of the State, to avoid spreading of misinformation.