SHELL is elusive, not straight forward – Gov. Uduaghan
Posted on 04th Jul 2013 under STATE NEWS.
Delta State Governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan has accused the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC)
Author: By Omafume Amurun
Delta State Governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan has accused the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) of being highly “elusive and not straight forward” in dealing with government officials and the communities in which they operate.
Governor Uduaghan who was responding to question on Shell’s gradual relocation from the state during a Phone-In Programme on Delta Broadcasting Service, Warri was at pains, talking about the company, regretting that it was difficult to deal with Shell, unlike Chevron and other companies operating in Delta, who were more accommodating and straight forward.
He gave example of the Osubi airstrip and how Shell deceived him for about two years on whether or not they want to sell the airport and the need to expand the airstrip to accommodate bigger aircrafts.
According to him, it was after several years that a friend of his, who works in the company, disclosed to him that Shell had no plans to sell or allow the government to expand the airstrip, despite the fact that they had acquired a large piece of land from the Osubi community.
The Governor said the company even refused to release the undeveloped piece of land to him, until he threatened to revoke their certificate of occupancy. He said the state government was now in the process of building a bigger airport in the area, as the government had acquired more piece of land.
He commended Seplat Nigeria Limited for their good community relations strategy and urged them to continue, as the community was now happier unlike the period Shell was operating in the area.
On the forthcoming local government election, the Governor promised the conduct of free
and fair local government elections very soon as the Delta State
Independent Electoral Commission (DSIEC) was working out modalities to ensure a
successful exercise.
He explained that, “there have been several challenges facing the constitution of the Commission. Some people went to court when the names of members of the Commission were sent to the House of Assembly. Thank God, we have settled these issues and the Commission is in place. I want to assure you that the local government elections will soon take place, as the
Commission is working out modalities for its successful conduct.”
While answering a question on revenue collection, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan directed all local government chairmen to rid all major roads and streets in the state of their illegal revenue touts within one week.
The Governor who explained that he had to arrest one of such revenue touts in Uvwie Local Government Area on Monday, directed the Chairmen to ensure that they collect their revenues only in authorised places and not on major roads and streets, as they contributed to the traffic congestion on our roads.
His words, “Revenue collection should not be carried out along our major routes and streets, because such acts cause traffic congestion for the motorists. So, local government chairmen must remove all unauthorized revenue collection points from the roads within a week.”
The Governor also frowned at the conversion of all junctions into taxi parks and charged the Commissioner for Transport to look into ways to bring this practice to an end.
While charging motorists to ensure traffic discipline on major roads, he revealed that “plans for a BRT lane on the Warri-Effurun Road, especially the Enerhen Junction Area are already on course”, stating that “ road marshals who are to help free flow of vehicular movements and Environmental Marshals who will effect, environmental cleanliness will soon be engaged”.
On Okpanam Road drainage, Dr. Uduaghan disclosed that the phase 2 of the drainage project on both sides of the road leading to the popular post office junction in an effort to curb erosion, would soon be awarded to two contractors, stating that “ with patience, most of the people’s complaints will be addressed adequately.”
Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan also restated his administration’s commitment to improve on security in public schools in order to ensure adequate protection of government properties. He explained that some of the newly constructed and renovated public schools in the state were being vandalized and charged community leaders to help protect government facilities in their domains.
The Governor observed that those vandalizing public properties and passing excreta in classrooms live in the communities and charged community leaders to assist government, in the area of school security.
His words, “I am calling on community leaders to assist government on the issue of security in their areas. Some of the public schools we just built and renovated have been vandalized, this is very bad. Those vandalizing these schools and passing excreta in the classrooms are people in your communities, an outsider cannot do that.”
He said his administration was now ready to speedily develop the state for the benefit of Deltans, explaining that the previous delay in the area of development was because he was taking time to strategise and provide a lasting developmental plan for the state which would help tackle the
problem of infrastructure and economic development.
Speaking further, Governor Uduaghan said the delay was also due to lack of funds, but stated that most of the uncompleted projects inherited from previous administration has been completed and commended Deltans for their patience with his administration.
The Governor also charged school heads to mobilize their students to clear up over-grown weeds in school compounds, stating that government would not spend money to clear overgrown weeds in any public school.
He observed that the clearing of overgrown weed in schools in the past was part of the training of students and was also used as a disciplinary method for pupils/students who misbehaved saying, “in my days as a primary and secondary school student, we do not only clear grasses on general labour days as clean-up exercise but clearing of overgrown grasses is also used as
punishment.”.
Dr. Uduaghan also noted that the turn around of public primary and secondary schools cannot affect all schools, because of the huge financial overlay. He however assured that his administration would ensure minimum standard in all public schools in the state.
and fair local government elections very soon as the Delta State
Independent Electoral Commission (DSIEC) was working out modalities to ensure a
successful exercise.
He explained that, “there have been several challenges facing the constitution of the Commission. Some people went to court when the names of members of the Commission were sent to the House of Assembly. Thank God, we have settled these issues and the Commission is in place. I want to assure you that the local government elections will soon take place, as the
Commission is working out modalities for its successful conduct.”
While answering a question on revenue collection, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan directed all local government chairmen to rid all major roads and streets in the state of their illegal revenue touts within one week.
The Governor who explained that he had to arrest one of such revenue touts in Uvwie Local Government Area on Monday, directed the Chairmen to ensure that they collect their revenues only in authorised places and not on major roads and streets, as they contributed to the traffic congestion on our roads.
His words, “Revenue collection should not be carried out along our major routes and streets, because such acts cause traffic congestion for the motorists. So, local government chairmen must remove all unauthorized revenue collection points from the roads within a week.”
The Governor also frowned at the conversion of all junctions into taxi parks and charged the Commissioner for Transport to look into ways to bring this practice to an end.
While charging motorists to ensure traffic discipline on major roads, he revealed that “plans for a BRT lane on the Warri-Effurun Road, especially the Enerhen Junction Area are already on course”, stating that “ road marshals who are to help free flow of vehicular movements and Environmental Marshals who will effect, environmental cleanliness will soon be engaged”.
On Okpanam Road drainage, Dr. Uduaghan disclosed that the phase 2 of the drainage project on both sides of the road leading to the popular post office junction in an effort to curb erosion, would soon be awarded to two contractors, stating that “ with patience, most of the people’s complaints will be addressed adequately.”
Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan also restated his administration’s commitment to improve on security in public schools in order to ensure adequate protection of government properties. He explained that some of the newly constructed and renovated public schools in the state were being vandalized and charged community leaders to help protect government facilities in their domains.
The Governor observed that those vandalizing public properties and passing excreta in classrooms live in the communities and charged community leaders to assist government, in the area of school security.
His words, “I am calling on community leaders to assist government on the issue of security in their areas. Some of the public schools we just built and renovated have been vandalized, this is very bad. Those vandalizing these schools and passing excreta in the classrooms are people in your communities, an outsider cannot do that.”
He said his administration was now ready to speedily develop the state for the benefit of Deltans, explaining that the previous delay in the area of development was because he was taking time to strategise and provide a lasting developmental plan for the state which would help tackle the
problem of infrastructure and economic development.
Speaking further, Governor Uduaghan said the delay was also due to lack of funds, but stated that most of the uncompleted projects inherited from previous administration has been completed and commended Deltans for their patience with his administration.
The Governor also charged school heads to mobilize their students to clear up over-grown weeds in school compounds, stating that government would not spend money to clear overgrown weeds in any public school.
He observed that the clearing of overgrown weed in schools in the past was part of the training of students and was also used as a disciplinary method for pupils/students who misbehaved saying, “in my days as a primary and secondary school student, we do not only clear grasses on general labour days as clean-up exercise but clearing of overgrown grasses is also used as
punishment.”.
Dr. Uduaghan also noted that the turn around of public primary and secondary schools cannot affect all schools, because of the huge financial overlay. He however assured that his administration would ensure minimum standard in all public schools in the state.
No comments:
Post a Comment