The Rivers State
Government said that its investment in the provision of potable water to some communities in the state was to check waterborne diseases.
The State Governor, Rt. Honourable Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi who said this, while addressing students of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST), Port Harcourt, said that the situation was critical in view of the danger posed by waterborne diseases in various parts of the country.
Amaechi listed communities which have so far benefitted from the project to include, Gokana, Ubima, Igwuruta and Andoni.
Meanwhile, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) said the centre for Environmental Management and Control at the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) Enugu campus was part of the company’s effort to improve the knowledge of Nigerians on their environment.
The centre was commissioned in March 2014.
Managing Director of the company, Mr Mutiu Somonu who disclosed this during the foundation laying ceremony of a marine engineering laboratory for the Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST) Port Harcourt, described the centre as a significant point in terns of Shell’s contributions to tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
The managing director who was represented by the General Manager Sustainable Development, SPDC, Mr Nedo Osayande said that the company had also donated mud drilling laboratory equipment to the University of Port Harcourt.
According to him, “the centres of excellence will play a key role in attaining the desired levels of Nigerian content development, particularly through R and D studies”.
A youth leader in Kalaba community, Mr Samuel Oburo, at the oil spill site within an oil field in Kalaba community, Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.