BONNY KINGDOM SUSPENDS PLANNED PROTEST, DEMANDS IMMEDIATE IMPLEMENTATION OF MOU's WITH MULTINATIONALS.

BONNY KINGDOM SUSPENDS PLANNED PROTEST, DEMANDS IMMEDIATE IMPLEMENTATION OF MOU's WITH MULTINATIONALS.

Ini Basurua

13th January 2025

Bonny Kingdom in Rivers State has suspended it's planned protest, but not without reiterating their demands for immediate implementation of Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) with multinational companies.

The people of Bonny Kingdom have been crying out against what they describe as "abject neglect, total exclusion, and denial of rights and privileges" by these entities for over a decade. 

The protest, which was led by all 35 chieftaincy houses in the kingdom, saw members carrying placards with messages like "Liberty for Bonny Kingdom" and "SPDC commence the execution of the BIBC".

They're also calling on NLNG to honor all Train 7 related agreements with the kingdom and for both NLNG and SPDC to respect and honor the kingdom's positions. The kingdom's grievances stem from feeling marginalized, despite being a significant contributor to the state and country's economy, with no projects implemented by the Rivers State government in the past 16 years. 

The chairman of Bonny Kingdom Development Committee  Amaopusenibo AMAIRIGHA HART shortly after speaking with the over three hundred indigenes of Bonny announced that the suspension of the protest was as a result of intervention from stakeholders and a multinationals, he disclosed that a meeting will be held but threatened that if their demands are not met, they will embark on a protest that will shock the country.

Amaopusenibo Hart while briefing journalists said "Bonny Island has remained in the limelight of business and tourism as far as the 13th century, engaging in international trade with the Portuguese and the English, amongst other European countries, as well as locally with the Kalabari, Wakirike Andoni and Igbo, amongst others. This the advent of multinationals beginning from Shell BP in 1958 to the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited in 1996,amongst several others".

He said it is disheartening to state at this point that with the presence of SPDC, NLNG, Mobile Producing Nigerian Unlimited, TotalEnergies Nigeria Limited, and Belema Oil, e.t.c the area has become worse off, while individuals, nations and organizations hail Bonny Island as a blessed geographic location, the land and people have very little to smile about. 

"This stems from the abject neglect, total exclusion, rights and privileges denial and obnoxious disregard for the people of Bonny Kingdom in the scheme of things with regards to how the companies operating in Bonny Island do their businesses", The chairman of BKDC Amaopusenibo Hart stated. 

"Specifically aside the marginalization of Bonny people in employment, management and administration, award of contracts, amongst others, the vehemently refusal to implement corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects in the kingdom are some of the annoying issues trending", he stressed. 

In article 9 of the communique read by the Chairman, he said the CSR projects are those agreed upon with regards to the various projects being implemented by individual multinationals on the island, stressing that they are not patronage driven projects but a requirement of the laws guiding oil and gas activities in the country. 

He revealed that " NLNG and SCD-JV signed memorandum of understanding to execute the following projects in the kingdom under the Train 7 project; expansion of the road from shell gate to Coal Beach with a spour from Amaomu junction to the King Perekule Palace, Construction of a 5,000 capacity mini-stadium and sports academy; construction of vehicular terminal, construction of a 2.5km road from Workers camp to Simidia junction, but the company has blatantly failed to implement any of them for years now. 

He added that there is also an agreement to construct a waste-to-wealth facility, among others but none of the prohects has seen the light of day.