Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt
Residents of four communities of Ahoada West local government area of Rivers state, affected by earth tremor last month have expressed concern over alleged failure of government and multinationals operating in the area to commence investigation into what led to the incident three weeks after.
The communities affected include: Oroma, One Man Country, Akeoniso Edagberi and Jankrama. Some residents in the affected communities raised alarm that they now live in fear, following the incident.
The Paramount Ruler of Edagberi and Better land communities, one of the affected communities, Chief Jacob Sunny Obele, said the communities are yet to get succor from both government and multinationals since after the incident.
“If care is not taken these communities will sink. We have over 40 oil and gas wells but no federal and state government projects in these communities. We are aggrieved. We are not happy with what both the federal and state governments are doing to us because this means that these communities will go into extinction.”
Meanwhile, the caretaker committee chairman of Ahoada West, Jerry Akuru, has blamed the earth tremor incident on the seismic operations of multinationals operating in the areas in oil and gas exploration in the areas.
“Actually the earth tremour happened on the the June 25 due to the constant exploration of oil.I want to challenge oil multinationals to come to our aid and give the best expert advice on how to go about it.”