Nigeria: Chevron Inaugurates N185 Million Projects In Ondo

Covering 11 communities of the oil-bearing coastal stretch of Ilaje local council of the state, the GMOU was part of the oil company's commitment to the human and physical development of settlements in its operational areas to reduce armed militancy by lessening the burden of oil exploration on both the population and the environment.

Chairman of IRDC, Philemon Ebiesuwa, during an inspection tour of project sites expressed satisfaction with the progress so far recorded by the initiative, which he said had "built confidence of a new deal among the long-suffering residents of oil-producing areas of Ondo State ."

Inspected by the IRDC group which also included members of the project monitoring team were each of the massive 1,500-capacity town halls constructed for the two communities of Awoye and Molutehin and the Science Laboratory which is expected to serve secondary schools within the communities. Other projects included over 22 wooden footbridges constructed at the cost of N55 million, all of which have been completed, self-contained apartments to accommodate staff of public hospitals and schools at Ode-Ugbo and Jinrinwo as well as public conveniences.

Ebiesuwa disclosed that the town halls and the laboratory projects which were at 75 percent completion with N130 million already expended on them would be accommodated for completion in the next year's budget.

He, however, added that the Reverse Osmosis project, which is perhaps the major project that is targeted at addressing the problem of lack of potable water in the communities and save the population from the myriad of water-borne diseases that plague them, would be completed next September. The project is designed to convert the abundance sea water in the area to drinkable one through the process of desalination.

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