Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — Community workers at the Centre of Excellence for Environmental Restoration in Wiyaakara, Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State, have staged a peaceful protest against the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project, HYPREP, demanding for payment of their stipends.
The workers from Ogoni ethnic nationality, both skilled and unskilled, numbering over 1,000 on Monday, locked the entrance to the HYPREP project site, insisting that they will not go back to work until all their stipends for the last three months have been paid.
SweetcrudeReports gathered that while the Chinese construction firm handling the project, CCECC, pays a stipend of N1,500 per day to the workers, HYPREP under the incumbent Project Coordinator, Prof Nenibarini Zabbey, had opted to pay additional N5,000 per day to unskilled and N6,000 to skilled workers.
However, these additional stipends from HYPREP, according to the workers, have not been paid since November 2023, while CCECC was consistent with the N1,500 per day wage, an amount which cannot take the workers home due to the current economic inflation in the country.
One of the leaders of the protest, who gave his name as Akpobari, maintained that the protest will continue everyday untill their demands are met.
He said: “We want HYPREP to keep to their promise and give us our daily stipends. The people being trained on livelihoods by HYPREP are being paid monthly but for us who are working at the Centre of Excellence we have not received a dime up till this moment.
“We have been patient enough. We will not be working again until that money is paid. HYPREP should pay us our stipends. HYPREP has owed us for three months.”
Reacting on the development, the management of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project said modalities have been put in place to pay the workers this week, as their payments were being processed.
HYPREP Head, Communications, Dr. Enuolare Mba-Nwigoh, said the Project Coordinator of HYPREP, Prof Nenibarini Zabbey remains a people-centric person, and continues to demonstrate it through policies and programmes that engender direct and indirect maximal benefit for the Ogoni people.
“The Project Coordinator, Professor Nenibarini Zabbey has approved the payment of the augmented sum to the community workers on the CEER this week as it is being processed.
“Recall that community workers on the CEER were previously paid between N1500 and N1600 by CCECC, the contractor for the Project. CCECC had said the amount conforms with industry practice. However, HYPREP places premium on human interest issues, including staff welfare, and had made a strong case for a review of community workers’ daily allowance to N5,000 and N6,000. This was approved graciously by the Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abbas Lawal and payment was effected in November 2023.
“We can only expect the community workers who have been engaged on casual basis to reciprocate this gesture by conducting themselves in a manner that would not disrupt the peace and operations on site as HYPREP is thriving towards the completion of the project within timeline.
“While we implore our stakeholders including community workers to endeavour to exhaust engagement paradigms before resorting to protests, which could be counter-productive, we further call for patience and mutual collaboration for the successful completion of projects,” HYPREP said.
