By Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi
The incessant cases of sea piracy in Bille and other riverine communities of Rivers State have caught the attention of Globacom and an indigenous oil company, Eroton E&P, both of which have partnered together to help reduce the menace to the barest minimum.
The two companies decided to provide special mobile phones to indigenes of oil-rich riverine communities in Rivers State, including Bille, Opu Sula, Krakrama and others under the Degema 1 cluster development board.
The presentation ceremony was done yesterday, Monday, 9th December 2019, at Golden Tulip Hotel, Port Harcourt and was witnessed by representatives of Eroton E&P, Globacom and Degema 1 Cluster Development Board (DAA 1 CDB).
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In his opening remark at the event, Dele Aikhionbare, Head, Business Development, Eroton, said the donation of the mobile phones was part of giving back to the communities, given the good gestures they had shown the company and thanked them for the peaceful atmosphere they had provided for the company to operate freely in their community.
He expressed delight that with the emergence of GSM technology and mobile phones, communication had been made easy, urging the recipients to make good use of the phones while thanking Globacom for the gesture.
In his own remark, Lanre Akinyemi, Head of Enterprise, Globacom, commended Eroton for the partnership.
He said his company had been thinking of how to give back to the host communities before coming up with the idea of donating mobile phones to them, noting that with good communication network, business could be done easily. Akinyemi assured that discussions were ongoing with Eroton on how to sustain the programme.
In his response, chairman of Degema 1 Cluster Development Board, Firimabo Bob-Ogunga, thanked Eroton and Globacom for muting the idea of donating mobile phones to his people.
Describing the gesture as remarkable, Bob-Ogunga said it would add more value to the entire system because communication was key to development and efficient security.
The DAA1 CDB chairman urged Globacom to extend its services to the creeks to curb such menaces as sea piracy, kidnapping, stealing, among others.
“If somebody is under emergency and there is no communication, there would be no rescue except by chance. DAA 1 is very grateful to Eroton and Globacom but I will still appeal that you please cover our waterways,” Ogunga added.
