President General of the socio-cultural organization, representing the Eleme ethnic nationality of Rivers State, O’Ela Obor Eleme, Chief Israel Abbey, has lamented that the people of the area have been abandoned in the midst of the wealth inherent in the area.
Elder Abbey, who spoke in an interview with our correspondent, said that all efforts being made by the socio-cultural organization to make the numerous companies operating in the area to abide by the Local Content Act, as it relates to the employment of the locals are being rebuffed by the companies.
He disclosed that on assumption of office as president general in 2017, he took a tour of the companies operating in the Eleme Local Government Area, to assess their level of compliance to their corporate social responsibility to the Eleme people, and discovered that virtually all of them performed below average.
“Some of them do not even have a corporate social responsibility policy to show. So, I decided to do something like an environmental audit of Eleme, and when the reports came out, I wrote to the companies for us to sit down, and chart the way forward.
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“One of the companies was Indorama. They didn’t oblige us, that was n 2018,” he disclosed.
Elder Abbey said he took a step further by writing to the federal government through the Federal Ministry of Justice in 2019, but there was no reply, until 2022 when he took the decision to go to court..
He said while the matter is pending in court, the organization got a judgment against Port Harcourt Refinery in another suit, where the refinery was asked to pay N50 billion to Eleme community.
“Unfortunately the local content board in Bayelsa State appealed that judgment, and nothing has been done. We’re still at the appeal stage,” he stated.
He said he had also applied to approach the managing director of Port Harcourt Refinery, to congratulate him for the refinery coming back on stream, and then use the opportunity to discuss issues of employment for Eleme youths.
“Up till now, as I speak, I go almost every visiting day to try to see the managing director, but that has not been possible. I passed through the public relations office, nothing is working,” he complained.
He said while they are exploring the judicial process, the body is making efforts to see Governor Siminalaiyi Fubara and also visit President Bola Tinubu, to make a case for the Eleme people.
“Eleme is heavily industrialized, yet we are not recognized. As we speak, none of these companies have a memorandum of understanding with the people of Eleme Local Government Area; no binding agreement to show,” Elder Abbey said.
