Port Harcourt Mundial

. .. to Ask INEC to Conduct Elections within 90 Days By Godwin Chukwumaechi, Port Harcourt The Hon. Martin Amaewhule-led faction of the Rivers State House of Assembly on Tuesday declared the seats of 4 members of the House vacant for breaching the provision of the 1999 constitution on absention from plenary. The affected members are Edison Ehie, currently chief of staff to the state governor, Victor Oko-Jumbo, current factional speaker of the Assembly, Adolphus Timothy Oruibienimigha and Sokari Goodboy Sokari, representing Ahoada East II, Bonny, Opobo/Nkoro and Ahoada West constituencies respectively. Ehie served briefly as factional speaker of the Rivers Assembly and was the one who declared the seats of Amaewhule and his group of other 26 members vacant after they announced their now controversial defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to All Progressives Congress, (APC). He later resigned his membership of the Assembly to serve as Chief of staff to Governor Sim...

... as 80 Women test Positive to Benzene in Otuabagi Community By Kelechi Nwaucha Women from communities in the Niger Delta have dragged international oil companies, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), Total E&P and Agip Oil Company, before an Environmental Tribunal, sitting in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, August 7, 2024, accusing the multinationals of gross environmental degradation and destruction of their ecosystem. This was as report indicate "serious cases of benzene accumulation" among women living in Otuabagi, the first oil-bearing community in Nigeria, with 80 of those sampled testing positive to the existence of the carcinogen in their blood. Laying their complaints before a 'Mock Environmental Tribunal,' organised by Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre, with support from WoMin African Alliance, Niger Delta women from Okwuzi, Eleme, Rumuekpe (in Rivers State) and Otuabagi (in Ogbia, Bayelsa State) presented a long list of woe...

By Kelechi Nwaucha Women in the Niger Delta have commended the House of Representatives over its decision on the controversial divestment of onshore holdings by oil multinationals. The House of Representatives had passed a resolution against granting of consent, by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), to divesting International Oil Companies (IOCs) until there is full compliance with the guidelines for decommissioning and the regulations made under the Petroleum Industry Act. In a statement on behalf of oil-impacted community women in Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Delta and others in the region on Thursday, executive director of Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre, Dr. Emem Okon, said the Niger Delta commends the House of Representatives, especially the Committee on Environment, "for heeding to the voices of Niger Delta Women, by speaking up against the illegal divestment without proper consultation with the communities and full restoratio...

By Godwin Chukwumaechi The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has faulted what it described as the misrepresentation of the ongoing process for the return oil exploration in Ogoni to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, accusing persons with selfish motives of falsely presenting themselves as the drivers of the process. Factional MOSOP President, Fegalo Nsuke, who made the allegation in a statement after the group's emergency meeting in Port Harcourt, described the action as economic sabotage, accusing the representatives as impersonators. He said that some of the persons who claimed to represent the Ogoni people in a meeting held on Wednesday, May 15, 2024 with the President in Abuja, lack the mandate of the Ogoni people. He described those who claimed to represent the Ogoni people as paid chiefs driven by selfish interests, which contradicts the expectations of the Ogoni people on the development aspect of oil resumption. "MOSOP wants to emphatically state th...

By Kelechi Nwaucha For over 50 years of oil exploration in Nigeria, more than 1.5 million tons of crude oil were spilled in the Niger Delta, leading to biodiversity loss, health crisis among the region's over 30 million inhabitants, socio-economic tensions and an environment severely damaged. Of note, however, is the growing threat in the mining sector, and it's likely impact on mining host communities. Following an over 30% spike in mining activities, in Nigeria's quest to diversify revenue earnings from oil, host communities in the mining sector and their environment have began to show early signs of repeating the Niger Delta scenario. A situation that has seen mining communities in Nassarawa, Niger, Kogi and others record incidents of land degradation, water and soil pollution, lead poisoning (and blindness), among others. These informed a training for journalists, drawn from various media and states across Nigeria, held in Abuja on May 9, essentially to create awaren...

By Kelechi Nwaucha Despite the devastation brought on the Niger Delta environment by decades of oil exploration activities, mangroves remain effective natural defense against climate change manifestations in the region. According to research findings, mangroves, indigenous to the Niger Delta, "are one of nature's most effective tools in the fight against climate change," and contribute to the promotion of a sustainable ecosystem. Against this backdrop, non-governmental organisation, Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre, with support from Both ENDS, recently embarked on the regeneration of 5,000 propagules (mangrove seedlings) in five riverine communities. The project, which began with the regeneration of 1,000 propagules in Ibaka community, in Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State, last Friday, is to traverse four other riverine communities, that include Bundu (Port Harcourt City LGA), Rumulumini (Obio//Akpor LGA) and Bodo (Gokana LGA). Project off...

The saying that a golden fish has no hiding place played out recently as Engr Adokiye Tombomieye was honored with an award for his meritorious service to the nation and humanity by the umbrella media body in the Niger Delta, the Niger Delta Media Forum (NDMF). According to president of the NDMF, Prince Gbasam, Engr Tombomieye was honored in recognition for his outstanding leadership and contributions to the development to the oil and gas industry as well as support to the less privileged in the society through several empowerment and employment opportunities which have improved the economic status of several families and homes in the Niger Delta and the nation. "It is gratifying to note that the award recipient who bestride the oil and gas industry like a colossus where he left indelible footprints and retired as executive Vice President, Upstream, in the Nigeria National Petroleum Company limited without blemish, is no doubt a role model to the younger generation in the Nig...