Rivers
Stakeholders Seek Review Of Ogoni Power Project …Give HYPREP’s Project Coordinator Confidence Vote
Key Ogoni stakeholders have stressed the need for the review of the ongoing Ogoni power project to make it cost effective and efficient as well as ensure that power supply to Ogoniland is stable and regular.
This is even as they also passed a vote of confidence on the Project Coordinator of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project(HYPREP), Prof Nenibarini Zabbey for the excellent manner he has been running the affairs of the Project.
The stakeholders, who made their position known during HYPREP’s Project Review Meeting at De Edge Hotel in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, said the Ogoni power project has already gulped a huge chunk of funds, adding that what HYPREP should be preoccupied with is generation of power for the area rather than transmission.
A former member of HYPREP’s Board of Trustees and Rivers State Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Dr Peter Medee, who set the tone for the discussion on the power project in his intervention, said there is need for the power project to be reviewed in such a way that a gas plant would rather be installed in Ogoniland in order to achieve stable and regular power supply in the area.
To buttress his point, Medee cited the case of Aba in Abia State, which is today enjoying uninterrupted power supply.
According to him, it would not make any economic sense for huge funds to continue to be spent on connecting Ogoniland to the national electrity grid, then, at the end of the day, the people would enjoy less than five hours of power supply daily.
Medee further noted that Ogoniland boasts of huge deposits of gas, to warrant a successful review of the power project, transiting from the national grid to gas turbine, which he said would be able to provide stable power to the area.
While moving a motion for the stakeholders to pass a vote of confidence on the Project Coordinator, following his good works, the university teacher indicated that stability was necessary in the leadership of HYPREP, stressing that would enable the Project Coordinator to continue to do his work uninterrupted.
“We no longer want a change in the leadership of HYPREP,” he intoned.
His submission was greeted with a thunderous applause by the participants.
Toeing the line of reasoning of Medee, the Paramount Ruler of Barako Community, Mene Kadilo Kabari and former Rivers State Commissioner for Chieftaincy and Community Affairs, Hon John Bazia corroborated the fact that Ogoniland is rich in gas deposits, which would facilitate the supply of stable and regular power to the area.
Former Commissioner for Environment, Prof Roseline Konya and the President of Ogoni Mothers, Chief Priscilia Vikue, spoke glowingly about the Project Coordinator, and made a case for Ogoni women who they said have what it takes to be included in the execution of projects.
According to them, HYPREP should give attention and thought to what happens to Ogoni during the post remediation era.
On their part, former President of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), Mr Lergborsi Pygbara, and Prof Ben Naneh highlighted the importance of sustainability in all that HYPREP is doing in Ogoniland.
Also speaking, former Vice Chairman of Gokana Local Government Council, Hon Maurice Pronen, who represented Senator Magnus Abe at the occasion, harped on the need for HYPREP to sustain its engagement and collaboration with stakeholders and communities in driving the Ogoni clean-up project.
Youth groups in Ogoniland at the event also lent their voices to the call for stability in the leadership of HYPREP, and equally passed a resounding vote of confidence on the Project Coordinator.
The Chairman of the Joint Representative Council of Ogoni Youths Groups(JRC), Mr Amabu Lidogo and the Publicity Secretary of MOSOP, Mr Imeabe Saviour Oscar commended HYPREP and the Project Coordinator for the good works going on in Ogoniland.
The highpoint of the event was the presentation of the status of project implementation by HYPREP in Ogoniland by Mr Ifiok Ndiyo, who represented the Head of the Evaluation and Monitoring Unit of HYPREP, Mr Akeem Ottan.
Ndiyo gave an overview of all the projects and programmes HYPREP has been carrying out in Ogoniland including their current status.
While stressing the need for all stakeholders and Ogoni people to support the Project, Ndiyo listed the challenges the agency has been encountering in the course of executing its mandates, and called for a change of attitude.
The Project Coordinator, Prof Deinibarini Zabbey, had earlier in his opening address said the aim of the meeting was to update the stakeholders on work progress as a way of comprehensively review the projects and activities, saying, “Your feedback is valuable to the overall success of HYPREP.”
He noted that he was grateful for the stakeholders’ continuous support and active participation in the Project, stressing that “Our progress thus far would not have been possible without your input and cooperation.Your interest and understanding are the bedrock upon which we build our efforts to heal and rejuvenate the Ogoni environment, livelihoods, and peace.”
Zabbey said over the past months, HYPREP has made notable strides in various facets of the project implementation process, saying, the land and shoreline remediation process is ongoing; preliminary assessment of the complex sites has commenced; while the pilot mangrove restoration of over 500 hectares is going well.
The Project Coordinator listed some of the communal-related challenges affecting the smooth progression of the Project’s work, and announced that HYPREP would in the next few weeks train traditional rulers and other key stakeholders on Alternative Dispute Resolution and peace building techniques to increase their capacity to deal with emergency issues at the community level in a way that aligns with the Project’s objectives.
Donatus Ebi
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The 5-day Maternal and Neonatal Child Health (MNCH) Week, which started last Monday, comes to a close today in Port Harcourt.
The MNCH Week, which is part of healthcare campaign and interventions for Rivers people, witnessed interventions for pregnant women, non-pregnant women, children under five years old, and men as well.
Disclosing this during the 2024 last quarter strategic meeting of the “Media Advocacy For Health in Rivers State”, the State Health Educator, Dr. Diana Babbo, of the Primary Health Care Management Board, said, the MNCH Care Week, is part of several health campaigns and interventions planned for Rivers people.
“We call it MNCH Care Week. Our ‘one-stop-shop’, from 9th to 13th December, we will be in the health facilities, we hope that our care givers and mothers will bring their children, and partners/spouses to come amd access care in our facilities”, she stated.
According to the State Health Educator, the second part of the campaign and intervention is the roll out of MPox or Monkey Pox vaccination which is a targeted immunisation campaign, and scheduled to last for ten days in Rivers State.
Dr. Babbo, said the Monkey Pox vaccine will be rolled out in six states: Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Bayelsa, FCT, and Benue States.
She stated that the MPox vaccines roll out, which started on the 2nd of December, will also end today.
She explained that the MPox vaccination is targeted at communities, health workers, who are the frontline workers, and key population.
Such key populations include: commercial sex workers, People Living With HIV, transgender community, People Who Inject Drugs (PWID), and Men who have Sex with Men (MSM).
“We’re also saying that after the COVID-19 year, we noticed that there was a drop in immunisation generally worldwide. So, the world is trying to catch up”, she explained.
Towards this end, she stated that a team of Nigerians have been put in place with an aim to quickly close the gap, through intensification of routine immunisation.
Dr. Babbo said, “we will go to different communities where they are found and carry out what we call ‘Zero Dose Children'”.
Zero Dose Children, Babbo said, “means that they have not got their series vaccines, which are pental vaccines. They are those that have not completed their vaccines despite having started. So, we are going to target those categories of children”.
She further disclosed that in continuation of the interventions, malaria vaccines will be rolled out in Nigeria in January 2025, with Rivers State being one of the beneficiaries to have the vaccines in the public space.
A security expert and analyst, Charles Inkoh-Tariah, has recommended an Information Technology (UT) Communications driven security network in Rivers State.
Speaking during a live interview, “Viewpoint”, on radio, he said IT is very useful in reducing all forms criminality.
According to him, IT driven security is proactive and not reactive, while expressing regret that weakness in the security system stems from failure to adopt a modern and updated relevant IT-driven technology like other developed climes.
He also observed that there’s a lot of gap between the people and security agencies leading to weakness and failure.
Inkoh-Tariah, therefore, recommended a consolidated intelligence gathering system that will enhance effectiveness through adoption of technology and support of the people.
The security expert emphasized the need to revive the Neighborhood Watch , which, he said, is backed by law made by the State Assembly in 2008.
He insisted that there is need to also upgrade security facilities and improve performance of security personnel.
Furthermore, he called for adoption of Artificial intelligence, “which is more effective than all local or former security systems”.
By: Kevin Nengia
A United States of America-based socio-cultural organisation, Gbaaloo Nyo-Khana, which is an umbrella body of Ogoni, in Rivers State, Nigeria, has called on the people of Ogoni Kingdom to accord traditional rulers their deserved respect.
A statement jointly signed by the group’s President, Comrade LeBari Nzidee, the Secretary-General, Comrade Samuel Nwibana, and the Public Relations Officer, Barineka Akponi, condemned several utterances and derogatory statements by some youths against traditional rulers in Ogoni land, who they described as “natural custodians of Ogoni cultural heritage”.
The organization said such statements and behaviour doesn’t accord the high respect due traditional rulers in Ogoni land and called for a change of attitude towards traditional rulers who have the traditional blessings of the land.
According to the statement, the association condemns in its totality, recent unwholesome statements against a frontline traditional ruler in Nyo Khana Kingdom, saying it does not demonstrate a show of respect for traditional institutions in the area.
The statement said, “in as much as the organization will not support the ills or misbehavior of any traditional ruler, there’s the need for their subjects to address any act of misconduct with serious caution.
“If traditional rulers in other parts of the country are treated with dignity, such treatment should be accorded Ogoni traditional rulers and leaders at home and in the diaspora by the Ogoni people.
The group also accused some Ogoni indigenes in diaspora who are believed they be sponsoring the charade to get political recognitions because of their selfish interest to contest for elective positions in 2027.
Describing their intentions as “wild elephant dreams”, the group promised to expose such people.
The statement read in part: “some disgruntled ogonis in the diaspora are disrespecting our traditional rulers to score cheap political recognitions.
“We have come to realize that their intentions are borne out of the fact that they have an intention to contest 2027 elections, using falsehood, unscrupulous allegations to instigate fake news, through which they seek popularity in Ogoni”.
The group reaffirmed its commitment to “stand against any action that is not healthy in Ogoni land, especially when it has to do with not according traditional rulers their due respect and honour, specifically in Nyo-Khana Kingdom, and Ogoni at large”.
By: Nkpemenyie Mcdominic, Lagos
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