By Emma Amaize

Flashback

WHEN, in 1987, an Italian  allegedly shipped in 1,079,000 metric tonnes of toxic waste, which he claimed were residual chemicals and raw materials, to Koko in Warri North Local Government Area of Delta State, he said it was for a proposed fertilizer manufacturing company in Nigeria, but, as the people found out later, the items were killer materials.

Instead of ushering prosperity, the ‘drums of death’, stored in the compound of the late Mr. Sunday Nana, brought illnesses, including stomach upset, headache, failing sight and death to the people. There was outrage in the country and the then military government of General Ibrahim Babangida (rt) evacuated the products, reportedly promising, among other development incentives, to upgrade the community’s hospital to a teaching hospital or, in the alternative, make it a teaching hospital to UNIBEN.

A laboratory was also to be established to monitor the health of the people of the area, as a means of monitoring the long or short-term effects, if any, of the toxic wastes on the people and the environment.

These plans came up because government decided to dump an earlier plan to relocate the people of Koko  elsewhere, as a means of saving them from the likely effects of the toxic waste. At the time, the people had threatened to resist the move to relocate them outside their ancestral land.

Renewal of hope
For 24 years after the incident, the Federal Government seemed to have abandoned Koko to its plight, but the Federal Government, under President Goodluck Jonathan, appears  ready to change the Koko story. On Monday, July 25, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan led to the community some foreign investors, approved by the Federal Government, to inspect the sites for establishment of a $10 billion petrochemical plant and $6 billion fertilizer plant.

Festive mood
The team of investors from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Zenel Oil) and (Nagarjuma Company) India, along with representatives of the NNPC, Chevron and Sahara Energy (an indigenous) firm arrived the port town on a rainy day, but Koko was in a festive mood as chiefs, women and youths rolled out the red carpet for the  visitors. On arrival, the team moved  to the Koko Secondary School, from where they were flown in three helicopters to have aerial view of the Koko Export Free Zone, which is the location of the multi-billion dollars investments. The approval of Koko as an export free zone was granted by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua.

After an aerial inspection, the investors paid a courtesy call on Oloraja, Akatagbeni of Koko, Chief Victor Nana, and told him of the proposed investments. When  the Italian  sneaked in, 24 years ago, he did not meet with community leaders; he only met with the late Sunday Nana, negotiated the rent for the usage of his land for the storage of his killer chemicals and disappeared into thin air.

In the words of the Olaraja, “ I thank you all for coming to Koko, I can see that your coming is a sign of good things to come.  This is an indication that something good is about to happen in Koko. We are anxious to see the part we can play to facilitate this project. The community shares in my happiness. I know that your coming is a godly one.

“We look forward to seeing you again, I believe that your coming will be rewarding to all of us. I see the hand of God in all this. This place is a great place, we will do our part, we are peaceful people and you are welcome”.

Ready for business
Before heading to Koko, the investors were at the Nigeria Ports Authority, NPA, Warri, for a presentation by the Port Manager, Mr. Oboneme Samuel Onuenyewe, in pursuant to their proposed $16 billion investments in  the state under the Koko Free Export Processing Zone initiative.

Onuenyewe informed the investors that the Warri Ports were centrally situated and have an equidistant that is nearer to the north than the other ports, adding that if the Escravos Bar was dredged, a cargo of over 40 metric tonnes could be effectively be handled.

The Port Manager  informed them that the Warri Ports were easy to maintain as they do not have problem with  water, noting that Warri and Koko have good water and natural harbor.

Back to Warri, the investors briefed  Uduaghan of their mission and findings. In response, he told them that meeting the financial demands of the several major development initiatives of his administration has remained the greatest challenge facing the state.

The governor pointed out that the situation prompted the state to embark on vigorous, aggressive internal revenue drive and he sued for the cooperation of the people to enable the state reach  enviable heights.

Uduaghan thanked them for “showing interest in Delta State for substantial investments especially in the oil and gas sector.”

He told his guests that the building of a Government House annex in Warri was to complement the main office in Asaba, the state capital, and also because of its nearness, as the commercial nerve-centre of the state, to the oil and gas reserves and associated activities.

The governor said that, already, the state government had prepared grounds for the export free zone by putting in place the Asaba International Airport, which would assist investors to cargo their equipment into the state. In addition, the Asaba-Ughelli dual carriage way project was being done to offer easy and fast transportation from Asaba airport to Koko, while the strategic location of Koko also would assist cargo shipping through Benin River.

New dawn!
Since the toxic waste saga, many investors and developers seemed to have been scared of putting their money in Koko, but the jinx, if it was so, may have been broken with the proposed investments pouring into the port town. In fact, the Niger-Delta Development Commission, NDDC, not too long ago,

flagged-off the construction of the 15-kilometer Koko-Ogheye Road, estimated to cost N14.9 billion,  which, it is believed, would be the quickest route on road from any of the South-South states to Lagos when completed. The Uduaghan government, with the dualization of Koko Road, Koko Export Free Zone and other things, has  paved the way for the transformation of the town.