News
Delta Community Shuts Down SPDC Flow Station

Locals from Ojobo community in Burutu Local Government area of Delta State, on Wednesday, stormed the Beneside flow station operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) leading to a forceful shutdown of the facility.
The protest is coming two days after the community issued a 48hours ultimatum to SPDC to address issues contained in a pre-existing General Memorandum of Understanding, GMoU the community entered with the community.
The protesters, some of whom were half-clad women in their hundreds stormed the facility in speed boats and wooden canoes in the early hours of yesterday and stationed themselves on available spaces on the twin houseboats meant for staff of the flow station.
Addressing newsmen at the scene of the protest, spokesperson for the protesters, Prince Doubra Baro, flanked by a leader of the community, Ebi Brisibe, while giving reasons for the protest, stated that the community is demanding an immediate commencement of the Community Interdependency Electrification Project (CIEP – Gas Turbine), which they said was mutually agreed upon and signed under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the community and SPDC in 2001.
He said: “We demand for the immediate release of the GMoU fund which is being withheld by a popular bank in connivance with SPDC and demand that SPDC should revisit and implement its abandoned legacy projects as well as the immediate employment opportunities for Ojobo indigenes into SPDC at all levels which has been denied since 1971 and that EMVAL and /or any other subsidiary company currently operating or working at Benisede Flow Station should stop forthwith and there should be no further award of contracts to non-indigenous contractors at Benisede.
“Educationally, we ask that specific scholarship quota be given to Ojobo Community indigenes that are in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions, that the Tenancy Agreement between Ojobo Community and SPDC in 1971 be renegotiated for fairness, equity and justice, and that indigenous company owners be allowed to register with SPDC.
Other demands according to the community include; an explanation as to when, how and where the purported June 2005 Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Final Report of Benisede Catchment Area Field Development Plan (FDP) Phase II was carried out, a demand that due royalties are paid to Ojobo Community for the illegal Horizontal Drilling at Osuopele Oil Field (OML 46) since its discovery in 1977.
Efforts to speak with the Community Relations Officer in charge of the flow station, Mr. Tari Abide and the Team Leader simply identified as Mr. Peter were fruitless at press time as they were engaging leaders of the community in talks towards amicably resolving the situation.
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I’m Committed To Community Dev – Ajinwo
News
RSG Tasks Rural Dwellers On RAAMP …As Sensitization Team Visits Akulga, Degema, Three Others

Rivers State Head of Service, Dr (Mrs) Inyingi Brown, has called on rural communities in the State to embrace the Rural Access and Agricultural marketing project (RAAMP) with a view to improving their living conditions.
This follows the ongoing sensitization campaign by the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) visits to Degema, Abonnema, Afam headquarters of Degema, Akuku Toru and Oyigbo Etche and Omuma local government areas respectively.
Dr Brown who was represented by the Deputy Director, Special Duties in her office, Mrs Dein Akpanah, said RAAMP was initiated by the Federal Government and World Bank to economically empower rural dwellers.s
She said the World Bank understands the plights of rural farmers and traders in the State, and therefore came up with the programme to address them.
According to her, RAAMP will improve the conditions of farmers, traders and fishermen, and therefore, behoves on every rural communities in the State to embrace the programme.
The Head of Service also said the programme would support the youths to be gainfully employed while bridges and roads will be built to link farms and fishing settlements.
Also speaking, the State project coordinator, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the programme has the potential of creating millionaires among farmers and fishermen in the State.
Kpakol who was represented by Engr. Sam Tombari, said RAAMP would help farmers and fishermen to preserve their produce.
According to him, the project will build cold rooms and Silos for preservation of crops and fishes while access roads will also be created to link farmers and fishermen to the market.
He, however, warned them against any act that will lead to the suspension of the projects by the World Bank.
Kpakol particularly warned against acts such as kidnapping, marching ground, gender based violence and child labour, adding that such acts if they occur may lead to the cancellation of the project by the World Bank.
During the visit to Oyigbo local government area, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the team was there to let them know how they will benefit from the Raamp.
The coordinator who was personally at Oyigbo said the World Bank introduced the project to check food insecurity in the State.
He said already 19 states in Nigeria are already benefitting from the project and called on them to embrace the project.
Meanwhile, stakeholders in the three local government areas have commended the World Bank for including their areas in the project.
They, however, complained over the incessant attacks by pirates on their waterways.
At Degema, King Agolia of Ke kingdom said land was a major problem in the kingdom.
King Agolia represented by High Chief Alpheus Damiebi said many indigenes of the kingdom are willing to go into farming but are handicapped by lack of land.
Also at Degema, the representative of the Omu Onyam Ekeim of Usokun Degema kingdom, Osoabo Isaac, said Degema has embraced the programme but needed more information on the implementation of the programme.
Similarly, while High Chief Precious Abadi advised that the project should not be narrowed to only crop farming, a community women leader, Mrs Orikinge Eremabo Otto, called for the construction of cold rooms in all fishing settlements in the area.
At Abonnema, Mr Diamond Kio linked the problem of the area to incessant piracy along waterways.
He also expressed fears over the possibility of the project being hijacked by politicians.
Also at Abonnema, a stakeholder, Ikiriko Kelvin, called on the World Bank to design an agricultural project that will suit the riverine environment, while at Oyigbo, HRH Eze Boniface Akawo expressed satisfaction with the project.
John Bibor
News
Senate Replaces Natasha As Committee Chairman

The political mudslinging between the Senate leadership and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan continued yesterday as the Senate named Senator Aniekan Bassey as the new Chairman of the Committee on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the appointment during yesterday’s plenary, confirming Bassey’s replacement of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is currently on suspension.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was reassigned to the Diaspora and NGOs Committee in February after she was removed as Chair of the Senate Committee on Local Content during a minor reshuffle.
Bassey is the senator representing Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District.
Although no reason was given for her removal yesterday, the change is believed to be connected to her unresolved suspension.
In May, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court ordered her reinstatement and directed her to tender an apology to the Senate.
However, the Senate has insisted it has not received a certified true copy of the court judgment.
Akpoti-Uduaghan who represents Kogi Central, has yet to resume her legislative duties despite a recent court ruling that voided her suspension.
In a televised interview on Tuesday, Akpoti-Uduaghan said she was awaiting the Certified True Copy of the judgment before officially returning to plenary, citing legal advice and respect for institutional process.
Although the Federal High Court described her suspension as “excessive and unconstitutional”, a legal opinion dated July 5 and attributed to the Senate’s counsel, Paul Daudu (SAN), argued that the ruling lacked any binding directive to enforce her reinstatement.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, one of only three female senators in the current assembly, said the continued delay in allowing her return was not only a denial of her mandate but also a blow to democratic representation.
“By keeping me out of the chambers, the Senate is not just silencing Kogi Central, it’s denying Nigerian women and children representation. We are only three female senators now, down from eight,” she said.
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