Obey House of Reps, Relocate Us – Akatikpo Park Community Calls Out Renaissance as Flood Engulfs Area

Several babies, toddlers, the elderly and other vulnerable groups of residents in Jumbo Akatikpo Park Community in Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State were left stranded with nowhere to go after their homes were drenched in flood following a heavy downpour last night.

From about 3am on Wednesday, July 1, 2026, the roads, houses, public facilities and everywhere else was swamped in deep waters which went up higher than the knees in many areas. Several residents could not come out of their homes due to age, health conditions and other reasons.

A blind old woman was seen sitting by herself inside her flooded home. A man in his 70s, who was down with probable diabetes and sight issues, was seen helplessly lying on his floating mattress on top of the water inside his room. Another elderly woman was seen struggling to scoop water away from her house.

Household appliances worth millions of Naira were seen inside the water in homes and business places, many of them damaged already before the electricity was switched off by the Bonny Utility Company (BUC). Many of those businesses are as good as wound up with all or most of their equipment gone.

The drainage systems on both sides of the community were steeped under the flood when Kristina Reports visited just as both axes of the community, these include the Bonny Legislative Council premises, the Bonny Magistrates Quarters, Bonny Local Government Council Staff Quarters, the for NRC building, and several other areas.

There were also fears that the water may carry stray reptiles which could harm residents, as well dead rodents which carcasses could constitute public health challenges in the area, among other concerns.  

The leadership of the community had to convert the Community Hall into a makeshift camp for stranded residents, many of whom have nowhere else to go and nothing to eat. The situation as witnessed by Kristina Reports team which visited the community under the heavy downpour can only be described as pathetic.

In an interview with Kristina Reports, an elder in the community, Amasenibo Fidelis Jumbo, regretted that his kinsmen and women would be subjected to such tragedy, calling on Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited to save them from a 31 year tragedy it has allegedly subjected them to.

“It is the waste water and other effusions from their facility, the Bonny Terminal that has caused this situation we find ourselves. See how they raised the topography of their facility up to as much as 10 meters and even this our drainage is under pressure as it can no longer carry the volume of water coming through it.”

“Recall that the House of Representatives had ordered them to relocate us from this place but for almost three years now they have refused; they’re not even saying anything. What sort of wickedness is that?”     

On his part, the Chairman of the community, George Jumbo flayed Renaissance for its alleged intransigence in obliging the House of Representatives, which directed it to relocate the community.

He called on the company to urgently expand the drainage system bounding its facility with the community, saying this would help evacuate a higher volume of water, pending when it is ready to relocate the community, saying the company’s indifference to the plight of the community was unbecoming.  

Some residents of the community called on the Bonny Local Government, the Rivers State Government, federal and state Ministries of Environment, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) to come to their aid urgently.

They requested for relief materials such as food items for both adults and children, cloths, shelter and sleeping materials, as well as desilting and expanding of the drainages in the community to evacuate more water so that they could return to their various homes.

Efforts to have the reaction of Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited was yet unsuccessful as at the time of this report as enquiries to the company’s media representatives were yet to be responded to.