The government of
Akwa Ibom State has said it would be proactive in dealing with the
environmental problems and needs of oil communities in the state and
would not wait for the challenges to degenerate into a social problem.
The state governor,
Godswill Akpabio noted that the government would pay more attention to
the challenges of the oil communities with a view to initiating
proactive measures that would check the incidence of environmental
degradation and its associated problems.
Mr Akpabio said
this yesterday in Uyo during the state’s first oil and gas stakeholders
summit which was geared towards collaborating the activities of the
government, and the oil and gas companies operating in the state.
Noting that the
summit was an avenue to educate its indigenes on how to explore the job
opportunities inherent in the oil and gas industry, the governor
explained that it would sustain and broaden the business environment of
the state.
“The intention of
the Akwa Ibom State government is to collaborate with oil and gas
operators and other stakeholders to set an agenda for the future and
synergise our efforts for our mutual benefits. I believe that if we
listen more and talk less, we would hear the heartbeat of the host
communities and respond to their needs before they become social
problems. This is what we hope to achieve with this summit.”
Opportunities for residents
Commissioner for
environment and mineral resources, John Harry explained that
participants would be equipped with the technical knowledge to render
services in different aspects of the industry.
He said, “this
summit would bring to the fore various opportunities that we have in
this sector and also try to use it to cultivate the interest of our
people especially in the area of investment and the potentials that we
have in the oil and gas sector like the Ibaka deep sea port. This is a
very major investment that is coming up and our people should be
proactive toward making sure that they are also key players in it.”
One of the
participants and managing director of Double Deck Engineering Company,
John Essien, who said the summit had the capacity to create awareness
on the numerous opportunities available in the oil and gas industry,
mentioned that people only hear of oil and gas industries, but are
ignorant of the benefits that could be derived from investing in the
sector.
“The summit is going to equip participants with knowledge of oil and
gas and to exploit various opportunities which are available in the
sector,” he said.
