Jesse Height Development Association (JHDA) has issued a six-month ultimatum to Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to complete a 22-bed hospital project it started but abandoned in Jesse community, 24 years after the pipeline fire incident that killed 1,098 people in Jesse, Idjerhe Kingdom, Ethiope West Council, Delta State.
According to the Executive Director of JHDA, Austine Aghomi, the NGO has written NNPCL requesting its Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, to provide the kingdom report on the abandoned project.
“We are aware the project awarded by NNPC, in partnership with Pipeline Product Marketing Company (PPMC), was informed by the tragic five-day Jesse pipeline petrol fire disaster that broke out on October 18, 1998, roasting over 1,098 people from different walks of life across Nigeria.
“The people of Idjerhe Kingdom (Jesse) and neighboring communities with over 20 oil wells, and a flow station providing close to 100,000 barrels of crude oil per day, and earning millions and trillions of dollars for the Federal Government, yearly, have remained peaceful and nonviolent in the face of NNPCL/PPMC inciting neglect of such a sensitive project NNPC for this long with impunity.”
“The quietness and silence of Idjerhe Kingdom and neighboring communities should not be taken for granted by NNPCL/PPMC. Enough is enough,” Aghomi said.
JHDA demanded that the NNPC Ltd/PPMC return to site without further delay to upgrade and complete the hospital project from its 1999 design, which may have been overtaken by time to a modern hospital, within 90 days.
They urged the NNPC to ensure completion of the hospital within three months, failing which JHDA will deploy all lawful means to compel NNPC Ltd/ PPMC to compensate the people of Idjerhe Kingdom and neighbouring communities pending completion of the project.
