Mkpoikana Udoma 10 September 2017, Sweetrude, Port Harcourt – The Rivers State House of Assembly has tasked Nigerian Agip Oil Company, NAOC, to improve on its corporate social responsibility with its host communities in the state, especially Rumueme, which plays host to its headoffice in Port Harcourt.
The Chairman, Rivers State House of Assembly Committee on Youth, Employment and Empowerment, Mr. Martins Mannah, gave this charge while on an oversight function to the company.
Mannah said the visit was not unconnected with an alleged case of neglect by the Rumueme community against Agip, adding that his visit aimed to bring lasting peace to the age-long problem between both parties.
He blamed the company for not embarking on scholarships and employment for the people, and urged it to scale up its performance while advising the community to be peaceful.
Meanwhile, a group known as the United Brothers of Opobo Kingdom, UBOK, has called on the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, to come to the aid of Queenstown and Kalaibiama communities in Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Area of the state, which have recently been ravaged by erosion.
Worried by the damage already done to the communities by erosion, President of UBOK, Mr. Mike Fubara, lamented that various parts of the towns are currently under threat by erosion.
Fubara, while noting that some self-help efforts embarked upon by indigenes of the erosion-prone areas had not yielded the desired results, stressed that unless the state government takes steps to rescue the affected towns, most habitable structures and fishing settlements as well as farmlands were at the risk of being washed away by erosion especially now that the rainy season was severe.
