By Uche Henry
Ravaged by flood, the Egi and Ekpeye communities of Rivers State, host to TotalEnergies facilities in its Oil Mining Lease (OML) 58 concession, were left in a state of hopelessness like most other communities submerged by unprecedented floods that hit the country recently.
According to the ministry of humanitarian affairs, the flood crisis killed 600 while injuring thousands. No fewer than 1.3 million people are reported to be displaced while thousands of houses and vast tracts of farmland were destroyed across the country.
For the people of Egi and Ekpeye communities, it was a tale of woes and lamentations as the flood left hundreds of families homeless while causing massive destruction of property, farmlands, critical infrastructure and sources of livelihoods.
In all, nine communities were impacted in Egiland – Akabuka,Oboburu, Idu, Obagi, Ogbogu, Ohali-Elu, Obite, Obigbor and Ede, while in Ekpeye kingdom no fewer than 90 villages were impacted.
Over the weekend, the crisis management team established by TotalEnergies to alleviate the impact of the scourge on affected communities yielded great dividends that left most affected indigenes proud playing host to the oil giant.
Some of the interventionist measures include the evacuation of over 10,000 people from flooded areas to safety, daily feeding of 2,700 IDPs in four camps established at Akabuka GSS – Ogbogu CPS, Erema C school, Obite civic Centre, provision of 165 life jackets for rescuers and victims, hire of 25 canoes to help in ferrying trapped victims and medical assistance to victims.
Those impacted were also provided with mobile toilets and evacuation trucks at the four IDP camps, mosquito nets, mattresses, blankets, insecticides, towels, toilet soap, food stuffs like vegetable/palm oil, salt and sugar etc.
“We are here to stand with our people in Egi and Ekpeye. TotalEnergies is not just a responsible company but a responsive corporate citizen and committed member of the two kingdoms. That is why anything that affects our hosts, affects us too,” said deputy managing director, JV Asset of the company, Guillaume Dulout while empathising with people of Egi and Ekpeye amid the provision of succour to victims.
TotalEnergies’ assistance to the communities, however, didn’t stop at these interventions. The company went a step further to developed five key areas of action as part of its post flood intervention programme. Among them, the treatment and rehabilitation of water facilities to curb the spread of cholera and other diseases as well as the restoration of electricity occasioned by the destruction of electric poles and other facilities by the floods.
Without doubt, the floods came with various ailments and diseases. To ameliorate this, it was learnt that the company is planning to organise a mass free health campaign where patients can be examined and provided with medications.
It was also learnt that as part of the post flood remediation programme, TotalEnergies plans to repair some roads for the free movement of people, goods, and vehicles. The devastation of farmlands will invariably have a negative impact on the harvesting of farm produce for the people who are largely farmers. And fears have been expressed within the communities that this would lead to food shortages and hunger.To stem this crisis, TotalEnergies said it would be providing enhanced cassava and yam seedlings to farmers for cultivation to help forestall widespread hunger in the affected communities.
Dolout said: “It is our hope that this gesture will ameliorate the current hardships faced by the victims of the flooding in our communities. We wish to re-assure you of our commitment to partnering with our key stakeholders in bringing the desired development to our host communities.”