Edith CHUKU
For allegedly refusing to release contract papers of an indigenous contractor that won a bid for school building project, aggrieved natives of Ukpeliede Community in Ahoada West Local Government Area of Rivers State, staged a protest, blocking access road to Renaissance Energy Oil Company Limited.
During the peaceful demonstration on Monday, the protesters demanded immediate release of the school project papers.
They displayed placards with inscriptions such as “release our community contract papers now”, “BOT chairman should not cause communal crisis in our land”, “nobody should play politics with our projects”, “no contract award, no access through our community.”
Speaking in an interview, a native of Ukpeliede, Elder James Henry, explained that, “we are here this morning because of a contract awarded to Ukeamezhinim Nigeria Limited by Renaissance company.
“Instead of mobilizing the contractor to site, somebody stopped the contract. We are not happy. That is why we blocked the access road for the company to mobilize the contractor to site.”
The community elder insisted that “we will not leave here until the company do the right thing.”
Meanwhile, spokesperson of Renaissance was yet to react over the allegation as at press time, even as the access road to the company remained blocked.
