Joint Venture partners, TotalEnergies (Exploration and Production) Nigeria Ltd. and the NNPC donated relief materials to their Oil Mining Lease (OML) 58 host communities in Rivers on Friday.
The communities were devastated by recent floods.
Mr Guillaume Dulout, the Deputy Managing Director, TotalEnergies, Port Harcourt District, made the presentation of the relief materials to flood-affected communities in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni and Ahoada East Local Government areas.
Items presented were to Ekpeye communities in Ahoada East Local Government Area were 60 bags of 50kg rice, 30 bags of 50kg beans, and 30 bags of garri.
The communities also got 600 yam tubers, 60 bags of salt, 30 kegs of palm oil, 60 cartons of vegetable oil, 105 pieces each of mattresses and blankets, and 105 towels.
Others were 600 tablets of soap, 120 packets of insecticide-treated mosquito nets, 45 cartons of insecticides, 135 cartons of noodles, 60 cartons of powdered milk, 75 cartons each of beverages and sugar.
At Egi communities in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area the joint venture gave 280 bags of 50kg rice, 70 bags of 50kg beans, 105 bags of garri and 2,100 yam tubers.
It also gave 140 bags of salt, 70 kegs of palm oil, 140 cartons of vegetable oil and 420 pieces each of mattresses and towels.
The communities also received blankets, toilet soap, insecticide-treated mosquito nets, and insecticides, cartons of noodles, powdered milk, beverages and sugar.
Mr God’s Power Nwachukwu, General Manager, Community Affairs Project and Development, represented Dulout at the presentation.
He said the company was saddened by the devastating floods that swept across Egi and Ekpeye Kingdoms, rendering families homeless, destroying farmlands and other sources of livelihoods.
According to Dulout, the floods have simply tuned people into refugees in their own communities.
“Sadly, these floods have become a recurring decimal in Egiland and indeed across other parts of Nigeria.
“Nigeria’s major rivers, the Niger and Benue are more full at this time of the year because it is the peak or the rainy season in West Africa; this is also true of the Orashi River, which has its source in Imo,’’ he said.
He added that since the flood had become inevitable, government would have to explore long-term solutions to ensure that the water levels in rivers were better controlled.
This, he explained, was to forestall future danger to lives, property and to livelihoods.
Dulout noted that the company had deployed a crisis management team to provide various levels of interventions ranging from trucks, canoes, boats and life jackets/vests to evacuate families from flooded communities.
“We have so far evacuated more than 5,000 persons to safety and provided medical support to about 200 persons.
“We have provided daily meals to more than 2,700 internally displaced persons in four camps located in Akabuka, Erema, Obite and Ogbogu.
“We thank the leadership of the Egi Peoples’ Assembly, Ekpeye Kingdom and other institutions who have so far collaborated with the company to ensure the support provided reached the flood victims in the temporary shelters and communities,’’ he said.
Dulout stressed that TotalEnergies had been facing some significant challenges in OML-58 due to its inability to export oil because of the shutdown of Irans-Niger Pipeline since February 2022.
He said that the situation was caused by incessant sabotage and oil thefts which had impacted on the revenue of partners in the joint venture.
He re-assured the company’s commitment to partner with key stakeholders in bringing the desired development to the host communities.
In his remarks, the traditional ruler of Ekpeye Kingdom, Eze Kelvin Anugwo, commended TotalEnergies/NNPC joint venture for its kind gesture.
He said Ekpeye communities would continue to support and maintain cordial relationship with the company.
Also responding, Dr. Chukwuemeka Amirinze, the Deputy President-General of Egi People Assembly, who is also the Chairman of Egi flood committee, thanked the company and assured that the items would get to all the displaced communities.
Mr Ben Eke, Chairman of Ahoada East Local Government Council, also commended TotalEnergies for its swift response and assured the company that it would soon resume operations in the communities. Similarly, Mr Hope Ikiriko, Chairman of Ahoada West Local Government Council, thanked the company and assured that the communities would always cooperate with it whenever such cooperation was needednan.
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