Indigenous oil firm donates N170m worth of relief materials to 45,000 flood victims

Nathan Tamarapreye, Yenagoa

An indigenous oil firm, First E & P which operates the Oil Mining Leases (OMLs) 83 and 85 in Joint Venture with NNPC has donated relief materials worth N170 million to some communities affected by the recent floods in Bayelsa.

The handover of the relief materials was performed on Friday at an event held at Danielle Jetty, Oxbow area in Yenagoa.

The relief materials were officially presented on behalf of the oil firm by Ayebatonye Basuo, Head of Social Performance, First E&P.

The materials were received on behalf of the beneficiary communities by leaders of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps from across Bayelsa.

Representatives of the Bayelsa government led by Mr Ibiere Jones, Commissioner for Mineral Resources witnessed the ceremony.

It was gathered that over 24,000 internally displaced persons whose homes and farms were submerged by floods are expected to receive the relief materials.

The donations by oil will help alleviate hardship from the flood disaster across 48 IDP camps.

Items presented as part of the donation included foodstuff, water and other hygiene products.

Speaking at the handover event, Basuo said, “Our thoughts and prayers have continued to be with all who have been affected by the flooding experienced across the nation in the last few weeks.

“We understand how difficult it must have been for people to be displaced from their homes and to see their sources of livelihood adversely impacted.

“At FIRST E&P, we seek to always ensure that through our social performance strategy, our stakeholder communities benefit from our presence on a sustainable basis. We drive this through flagship community development programs which cover interventions in the areas of educational, health, infrastructural and human capital development.

“However, when unprecedented disasters like the recent flood occur, we also seek ways in which we can intervene to make a positive impact.”

On his part, Jones, who represented Gov Douye Diri of Bayelsa applauded the JV for showing concern and empathy to the people of Bayelsa beyond their immediate host communities, describing the approach as impactful.

“I want to say that the approach adopted by the NNPC/FIRST E&P Joint Venture is novel, they thought outside the box by using the IDP camps as points of contact and unlike other companies who come into the state and go to the communities and give out items without the knowledge of the government, they duly informed the government, and that shows that they are indeed a partner.

“From what I can see, the value of this intervention is huge, and being a wholly indigenous company owned by Nigerians, it is very pleasant,” Jones said.

On hand to receive the relief items were representatives of over 40 identified internally displaced person camps.

Reacting to the donation, Mrs Charity Godwin recalled the ordeals of the flood and expressed gratitude to the JV for identifying with the people of Bayelsa.

DSP Konyeifa Austin, from Mechanic Road camp Yenagoa recalled that most displaced people were also victims as criminals made away with valuables they left behind. He said that the items would ameliorate the sufferings faced by the people as the flood recedes.

 CAPTION

Representatives of the beneficiaries who received the relief materials.