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Indigenes urge withdrawal of troops from Rivers community THE Egi community in Rivers State has urged the government to immediately withdraw the military troops deployed in the area. The community alleged that the military men were infringing on their rights and harassing their women. On Tuesday, the community staged a peaceful protest in the streets of Port Harcourt, alleging maltreatment by officials of Elf Petroleum Nigeria Limited. Spokesman of the community, Mr. Chukwukere Ile, said the protest was to register their grievances to the world. Ile said that in spite of the huge profits made by the oil company and the Federal Government through oil and gas produced from Egi soil, the firm has neglected its social responsibility to the people of the area. He alleged that the farmlands and fishing ponds of the community have been destroyed as a result of the operations of the company and consequently, has made life difficult for the people. The community leader accused the oil firm of breaching all outstanding agreements and memorandum of understanding (MoU) reached with the community. He called on ELF to rise to its social responsibility to avoid further violation of law and order. His words: "We are a peace-loving people and we don't want anything to cause trouble in our land. Let Elf rise up to its responsibility and the government withdraw soldiers from our community immediately".
AFC to Build $700m Ring Road in Port Harcourt The Africa Finance Corpo-ration (AFC) and the Rivers State Government have agreed to construct an 88-kilometre ring road in Port Harcourt at the cost of $700 million.
AFC to build 88 km P-Harcourt Ring road, upgrade Rivers' IPP Africa’s foremost infrastructure providers, Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) will build 88km ring road for the Rivers State Government in the capital city Port Harcourt and upgrade the generation, transmission and distribution unit of the state’s Independent Power project. These were the fruits of deliberations between the AFC and the Rivers State Government according to memoranda of understanding signed on both subjects by the AFC President and Chief Executive Officer, Austine O. Ometoruwa with Rivers State Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi in Port Harcourt on Friday 4 April. The 88-kilometre ultra modern high capacity ring road around the city of Port Harcourt will cost $700 million and will be the largest municipal highway project in Africa when completed. Expected to be a catalyst to the city’s economic development, the Ring Road will support Port Harcourt’s ambition of becoming a regional commercial hub and form an integral component of the Rivers State Government’s Master Plan for the revitalization of the city. The Master Plan includes the establishment of a new town north of the airport. The other technical partner is Roughton International, a world leader on highways with a presence in over 40 countries. AFC will lead the project development, management, and financial structuring of the private-sector led partnership, which includes AFC financial partner ICMG Securities. The Ometoruwa said “AFC is committed to the successful on-budget completion of the project within the 30-month time frame.” He stressed that “this is the kind of urban development that is necessary to drive broader infrastructure growth and advancement in Africa.” The 24-month Independent Power Project initiative is a central part of the Rivers State Government’s objective of providing reliable power to its citizens through a sustainable public- private partnership (PPP). For AFC, it is equally an opportunity to offer a commercial solution to power delivery where solely public sector provision has not worked. AFC, its financial As well as rehabilitate the existing transmission and distribution system. AFC will manage and operate the generation, transmission and distribution assets, acting as an operating partner in generation and a majority ownership partner in distribution. It will invest in an upgrade of assets across a broad spectrum, and will work with the Rivers State Government to It will also help the authorities create payment security mechanisms, including pre-payment metering system to improve collections and overall revenues. SEPCO is a world class Chinese EPC contractor and O&M company whose experience Despite producing 40 percent of Nigeria’s oil, Rivers State remains significantly under-supplied in power. Its estimated demand for power substantially exceeds current generation capacity of 186 megawatts—drawn from the state’s Independent Power Provider (IPP) system and the national
Reps panel discovers N58b stalled power projects in Rivers STARTLING discoveries were yesterday made by the members of the House of Representatives Committee on Power and Steel on their visit to Rivers State in continuation of their tour of the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP) sites as contracts worth N58 billion that had begun on paper were at their best, at the take-off level. The panel's leader, Ndudi Godwin Elumelu, and his members discovered that despite the billions of naira paid contractors for the execution of these projects, they (the contractors) had done virtually nothing. At Borikiri where a N1.2 billion contract was awarded to M.Schneider Engineering in 2006 for the construction of a 2 x 7 5MVA sub-station and five per cent mobilisation fee paid, work was yet to start. M. Schneider's contract entailed the installation of major equipment such as injection power transformers, circuit breaker, control relay and panels instrument transformer. But two years after nothing has been done. Another incident, which shocked the lawmakers, took place at the Afam Power Station. They discovered that despite the payment of N4.5 billion out of N4.9 billion to Payma Bargh & Cartlark International for the construction of a 330KVA Afam extension, the firm was yet to begin work. Similarly, on the Afam-Onne 330KVA transmission line project awarded to Energovod S.R.O valued at N1.2billon and for which N691 million was said to have been paid to the company and another N330 million to a consultant, work is yet to start. Officials of the Power Holding Corporation of Nigeria (PHCN) informed the panel that ever since the contractors presented their engineering designs, no one had seen them at the Afam Power Plant. Still at Afam, the committee discovered that despite the over $35 million spent on the power plant, its facilities were almost moribund. The turbines, 15 and 16, for which over $8 million was purportedly spent, were not working. The Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Micha Nwogu, revealed that the Ministry of Power had failed to carry out the mandatory 16,000 hours overhaul of the plant since 2001. He revealed that the installed capacity of the Afam 5 power plant is 68 megawatts. However, due to a lack of maintenance this has dropped to 52 megawatts. But the time the committee visited the site, none of the turbines was working. The state governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, lamented the situation and Port Harcourt experience as pathetic, because the city is usually practically in darkness. Addressing the committee members during their visit to the Government House, yesterday, the governor noted that even if states succeeded in the area of provision of adequate water and housing, the economy would continue to suffer if the issue of power supply was not addressed. He disclosed that Port Harcourt alone needed between 200 and 250 megawatts of electricity, but noted with regret that it was not getting anything near that. Amaechi blamed the upsurge of crime in the region on the absence of reasonable means of livelihood, maintaining that when the people were gainfully employed, crimes such as kidnapping would end. "The struggle in the Niger Delta is not the struggle of under-development alone, it is essentially the struggle of unemployment and if you help us with electricity to kick-start the economy, we shall employ our people," he said. Elumelu explained that the committee embarked on public hearing involving all stakeholders in the sector and following certain discoveries they decided to visit the sites of some of the projects to ascertain the veracity of the claims to enable them to give a comprehensive report of their assignment. The committee members also visited Rockson Engineering site at the Oil and Gas Free Zone where the management showed them some imported turbines. The firm claimed that it was finding it difficult to convey the turbines across the Imo River.
Controversy Trails Shell’s Return to Ogoniland Controversy is trailing alleged moves by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to return to Ogoniland which it abandoned about 15 years ago following disagreements with the host community and the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa, the Niger-Delta activist by the federal government in 1997.
Rivers gets new four judges The Rivers State Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has sworn in four new High Court Judges with a charge on them to appreciate the sacred nature of their duty. They include Justice George Otakpo Omereji, former Chief Registrar of the High Court, Godpower Chiji Aguma, former Deputy Chief Registrar, Supreme Court, Abuja, Letam Laka Nyordee, former Chief Registrar, High Court and Monima Wenike Danagogo, former Chief Magistrate. In his charge to the new Judges at Government House, Port Harcourt, Governor Amaechi told the elevated Judicial Officers that their duty was more sacred than that of the Executive and Legislative arms put together because any mistake from them could be costly. Do not forget that the power to determine who dies when a crime is committed rests squarely on you, forget about the approval of the Executive Arm after you have passed the judgment but if you miscarry justice then the guilty is between you and God?. Amaechi reminded judicial officers that their position puts responsibility on them to make the society better especially when politicians tend to over do things and urged them not to lose focus despite pressures because ?injustice is extremely painful?. He observed that ?as some one who was a victim of injustice? he appreciates the pain but praised God that he went to court and obtained justice. He described the judiciary as the voice of the voiceless, arguing that the legislature which claims to speak for the people is influenced most of the time by political considerations. He affirmed that as a body without any political inclination, the judiciary was expected to do the right thing without favour, stressing that their position was reflected by the symbol of justice with a blindfolded persons, depicting that justice does not look at any one?s face. The governor assured the new judges that his government would support the judiciary within the limit of its authority to ensure that they give their best to society, and reiterated his stand on full independence for both the judiciary and the legislature. He, however, hinted that the executive and legislative branches would continue to strive to improve the society, but acknowledged that in course of doing that there might be mistakes, and urged the judiciary to correct them. The judiciary is the only body that will force us to learn and improve on the fledging democracy. I plead with you to do justice to all manner of people and God would bless you?, adding that even the political parties were conscious of the rule of law after the series of court judgments in recent times. Also yesterday, the state governor swore in a new Caretaker Committee Chairman for Omuma Local Government Area, Mr Monday Onyezowu following the resignation of Mr John Anucha who is contesting the council chairmanship position. Amaechi told the new CTC Chairman that his testimonial was being written publicly today because the people expect the best from him but if he fails to serve properly he would have himself to blame in the future.
Rivers To Boost Power Generation Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi, has promised to provide three new transformers to the Port Harcourt District of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to enable it evacuate more power from the state’s Independent Power Plant (IPP).
Govt tightens security, gunmen abduct Odili's nephew THERE is no end yet to the spate of kidnapping in the Niger Delta. Yesterday, gunmen, dressed in police uniform, kidnapped Mr. Eni Odili, a nephew of former governor of Rivers State, Dr. Peter Odili, in Port Harcourt. Eni, a former Personal Assistant to both Odili and Chief Celestine Omehia, was said to be returning from church yesterday afternoon when the gunmen intercepted his car along Ada George Road in the state capital and took him away. The Joint Task Force (JTF) spokesperson, Lt.-Col. Sagir Musa, told The Guardian that Eni Odili had just left the church at about 1.00 p.m. in company of his wife and children when the gunmen struck. The hoodlums who may have laid ambush for Eni Odili were said to have used their Mercedes Benz 200 regular model to block his car. Having successfully immobilised the vehicle, the gunmen alighted from theirs and abducted him. According to Musa, "he was blocked and forced out of his car into a waiting vehicle, a Mercedes Benz car, and driven to an unknown destination. The kidnappers were said to have been dressed in mobile police uniform." The Guardian learnt that the bandits also dispossessed him and his wife of their cell phones and ordered him to enter the waiting Mercedes Benz car. As soon as he did, the kidnappers took off to an unknown destination." Lt.-Colonel Musa said the identities and motive of the kidnappers were not yet known, adding that no group had claimed responsibility for the act. He explained that on receiving the report, the JTF commander immediately directed all guard locations in the state to be on the alert with a view to arresting the hoodlums. Musa added that the SSS and police components of the task force had gone into action with a view to ensuring that Eni was released. "The JTF also wishes to appeal to members of the public that may have information or noticed suspicious movements in their neighbourhood to report to the command for necessary action." In his reaction, the Media Adviser to Odili and former Rivers State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Emma Okah, condemned Eni's abduction and called for his immediate release. He said that criminality would not solve the problem of the Niger Delta region. Okah said: "We condemn this totally and we call on these terrorists to have a rethink because what they are doing can never be said to be in the interest of the Rivers people or the Niger Delta. Already, this has painted the region in bad light and it has the potential of making us lose the sympathy we have with the wider world." Meanwhile, JTF has deployed more soldiers in the streets of Port Harcourt, particularly at night to foil any possible attack by militants following the extradition of one of the leaders of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Henry Okah MEND has accused the government of framing up Okah because of his refusal to accept a juicy pipeline laying contracts over justice for the people of the region. Musa told The Guardian that the decision to deploy more soldiers to strategic parts of Port Harcourt, particularly at night, was aimed at forestalling any incursion into the state by militants. It is our sheer determination to ensure safety of lives and property in Rivers State. We do understand that criminal activities are mostly done at night, so to forestall any criminal activity, we have decided to intensify our presence in the state." MEND spokesperson, Jomo Gbomo, had described as spurious allegations by the police that Okah was promoting secessionist interest, stealing weapons from military armoury and other offences. In an online interview with The Guardian, Gbomo said MEND was shocked that the same Police that had been so incompetent in solving all the high profile murders in Nigeria had suddenly come up with a name behind all the atrocities in the Niger Delta. "When did you find an oil bunkerer (thief) condescending to rob banks. How much can a bank keep at any given time as compared to just one bunkering deal. The whole accusations are childish. To conclude, why did the police not declare him wanted all this time? Was it not this same man a government delegation visited for peace talks? Because Henry Okah refused juicy pipeline laying contracts over justice for his people is why this late accusation. Knowing the type of person he is, he will rather die than compromise with the devil." Gbomo explained that from the on-set, it was clear that the government that sent a delegation to meet him in South Africa was behind the set-up. He threatened that the group would adopt an eye for an eye tactics. The MEND leader said: "We have not explored extreme measures on staff and oil installations and will be forced to begin doing just that. Believe me when I tell you the unrest in the Niger Delta is just beginning. He denied that MEND had killed any foreign oil worker since its formation. According to him, the only recorded death of oil worker came from the botched rescue attempts by the soldiers to free a hostage.
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