Bonny Kingdom people in Rivers State have embarked on a protest over what they described as refusal of international oil companies (IOCs) to honour agreements and embark on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects, both in an earlier Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and for the ongoing Train 7 project in the area.
Particularly, the Kingdom was demanding that NLNG, Mobil and Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) should reach an agreement with the Kingdom on the execution of all the accrued CSR projects of over 15 years due the kingdom; NLNG and SPDC should release to Bonny Kingdom all the accrued funds for the 2015 MoU; LNG should immediately transfer the stakeholders’ provided funds for all the T-7 CSR projects to a special projects account to be managed by NLNG and BKDC.
However, the total shutdown which began in the early hours of Monday has been suspended as the companies which were earlier shut down have been allowed to continue with their operations with activities resuming at about 9.00am in the Kingdom.
Tension began to build up Sunday night when members of the Bonny Youth Federation (BYF) intensified mobilisation for shutting all entry and exit routes to the Island, including market, offices, among others.
This was said to have raised concerns by some of the stakeholders in Rivers State, including the state government, Commissioner of Police, and NLNG.
Discussions were said to have continued all of Sunday night but the youths had already moved in to implement the decisions.
It was gathered that a truce was reached to suspend the protests, reopen the island, and allow a meeting to hold between the IOCs led by the NLNG and the Bonny people in two days time.
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