After years of telling neglect and corporate indifference, the Coal Beach at Bonny Island, main entry point into the host community of multinationals, Shell, Nigeria LNG, ExxonMobil, among others, is poised to receive a facelift and rejuvenation of businesses as stakeholders step in to the rescue.

This is just as the Director General of the Bonny Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (BOCCIMA), Constance Nwokejiobi made a call for broad-based strategic partnerships to drive a reinvention of the business environment, especially, the transport sector in Bonny LGA.

Kristina Reports reliably learnt that the Bonny Chiefs Council (BCC) and Bonny Local Government Council were collaborating in a partnership anchored by BOCCIMA and have swung into action to rejuvenate business activities at the Bonny Coal Beach.

Checks by Kristina Reports at the beach reveal that work is currently ongoing at the booking office, which sources disclosed to Kristina Reports that it was being remodeled to serve as a standard arrival/departure lounge, booking office, and holding area for a new ferry service being contemplated by the leadership of Bonny Kingdom.

Kristina Reports was yet to get details of the envisaged new ferry service, which some travelers at the beach expressed high expectation for having suffered the agony of the failings of the currently marine transport system existing in the area for years.  

According to a source, who preferred anonymity, the Amanyanabo and Natural Ruler of Bonny Kingdom, His Majesty, King Edward Pepple III, CON, Perekule XI was the visioner while the Chiefs led by the BCC Chairman, Chief Dagogo Wilcox, and the Local Government Council led by the LGA Chairman, David Irimagha were working in concert with the Nwokejiobi led BOCCIMA to actualize the vision of transforming the Coal Beach into a thriving business hub.

In line with this, the Bonny Monarch, Kristina Reports learnt, has directed the leadership of the Kingdom to initiate a facelift of the Bonny Coal Beach.

• 

• 

This move by key stakeholders, which many have described as long overdue, is viewed as a heroic one geared towards the transformation of the entry point of Bonny Kingdom.

A member of the business community in Bonny LGA, who simply identified himself as Owuna, expressed worry over the dilapidated state and conditions of the environment compared to globally accepted norms, thanking the leadership of Bonny LGA and the Chiefs Council for responding to the long expressed yearnings of the people.

Kristina Reports investigations reveal that some of the challenges being faced at the Coal Beach include inadequate parking system, absence of conducive travelers lounge, an archaic booking system, lack of proper security arrangement, failing infrastructure, rickety boats and worn-out or, in some cases, obsolete outboard engines, untrained pilots and deckhands, among several others.

In fact, the spate of sea pirate attacks, kidnappings and other heinous crimes along the Bonny River and adjoining waterways that constitute the sea route between Bonny Island and Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, have severally been accused on the state of things at the Coal Beach.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

A businessman who deals in artisanal refined fuel at the beach confided in Kristina Reports that “sometimes, you find that these criminals get information from their boys at the beach. If not how do they know who is traveling and who is not?”

“Many of them don’t have any business here, they will just be roaming around and looking out for any important personality to inform their people who will now attack the boat.”

A member of the Bonny Marine Transport Association (BMTA) executive, who does not want to be named as he was not authorized to speak on the issue, hinted that there was little they (transporters) could do about the situation except the relevant authorities intervene.

“Look at the NLNG jetty both in Bonny and Port Harcourt, don’t you enjoy traveling through there? That is how this place (Coal Beach) should be but who is ready to do it?”

“I am happy that the chiefs and (Local Government) Chairman, David is coming to do these things now. I hear they are doing it alongside Bonny Chamber (of Commerce). It is a welcome development. I thank them for this initiative. This is what we have been crying for all this while.”   

According to the BOCCIMA DG, part of the envisaged plans include “more reviews on improvements on infrastructure, safe transportation system, conducive environment for the businesses within the Coal Beach and, ultimately, transforming the welcome centre to a destination point for tourists”.

She disclosed that the outlay of these strategic blueprint “has attracted the collaboration of the Bonny Chiefs Council (BCC), Bonny LG Council and BOCCIMA”.

Nwokejiobi described the unfolding development as “the new dawn”, and, on behalf of the Chamber, called for “more partnerships from organisations within the Island to reach out and collaborate in achieving this vision”.

Close sources have hinted Kristina Reports that some engagements in this direction have already kicked off as more stakeholders have indicated interest to identify with the vision to drive the process and bring about the actualization of this strategic dream.