Bonny Kingdom, also known as Bonny Local Government Area, which is host to several multinationals such as Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU), Nigeria Liquefied natural Gas (NLNG) Limited, and Chevron Nigeria PLC, among others, has been in the news for several reasons recently, both for good and otherwise. From the enthralling news of the imminent kick-off of the Nigeria LNG train 7 project to the incessant attacks by sea pirates on its waterways, especially, the Bonny-Port Harcourt sea route, the island community that is about to be connected to other parts of Nigeria by road has been trending. 

But quite disturbed by the trend of incidences of piracy on the maritime environment, the Bonny Gentlemen’s League (BGL) that describes itself as “a frontline socio-cultural organization established in 1979 to encourage the coming together of Bonny intellectuals and professionals, distinguished business men and titled citizens and has been the vanguard of the development of Bonny Local Government Area, among others, rising from its 41st Annual Convention on Sunday, December 27, 2020, where it carefully reviewed the state of affairs in Bonny LGA, Rivers State and the Nigeria, at large, including the prevailing security challenges, issued a Communique documenting its resolutions.

Thereafter, the Executive Committee of the BGL, led by its Chancellor, Olam Allwell-Brown, a retired Squadron Leader in the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), security expert, aviation logistician, and titled citizen (Amaopusenibo) of Grand Bonny Kingdom, accompanied by its Registrar, Victor Jumbo, a Chartered Accountant and financial expert, and Chief Whip, Ethelbert Oko-Jumbo, who is also a retired Police Officer and security analyst, granted an interview to select media organizations where Kristina Reports’ Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, Godswill Jumbo, and the Chief Executive Officer of Lawban Media and PR, Lawrence Banigo, grilled them on the issues raised in the Communique. It is an interesting read:

Kristina Reports: Good afternoon, Sirs, we would like to meet you.

Olam Allwell-Brown: My name is Olam Allwell-Brown. I’m a retired senior Air Force officer, security expert, aviation logistician, titled citizen of Grand Bonny Kingdom and currently the Chancellor of the Bonny Gentlemen’s League. To my right is Victor Ibigoni Jumbo, a Chartered Accountant, reputable technocrat and Registrar of Bonny Gentlemen’s League; and to my left is Ethelbert Oko-Jumbo, a retired police officer and Chief Whip of the Bonny Gentlemen’s League. We are a representation of the Executive Council of the League.

BGL having identified Bonny as the cash cow of the Nigerian State, highlighting the hospitality and peaceful disposition of the community which makes hosting NLNG ExxonMobil, SPDC etc. feasible, which in turn generates humongous revenue for the Nigerian state. Yet, opines that Bonny is isolated with no road links to other parts of the state, bearing the Bonny-Bodo road in mind, please elucidate on this.

The Bonny-Bodo road is a Federal Government project which is ongoing. However, it is imperative to state that Bonny Gentlemen’s League (BGL) played a key role in the re-awarding of the contract for the project. As a socio-cultural group, we wrote to government functionaries, ministers and interfaced with relevant authorities and stakeholders to get it back into the budget. Until the road is completed, Bonny remains isolated and the only means of mass transportation is by sea. It is public knowledge that we have intense security challenges on the Bonny-Port Harcourt waterways, travelers are attacked daily by pirates which has brought untold hardship to travelers and residents of the community. Therefore, we are raising attention to this while calling on government to mobilize offensive platforms to tackle this security threat considering the contribution of Bonny to the GDP of the nation, not necessarily their investments/infrastructure on the island alone.

With respect to the #Banigo5, the seeming silence on the part of government and Security agencies. What efforts has BGL put in place, what efforts have been made to reach out to the Traditional council, Local Government Council, Security operatives and affected families, to address the ill-fated incident?

The League has done quite a lot behind the scenes, meeting the who-is-who, made contacts across board.  Ideally, due to the peculiarity and sensitivity of the subject matter, “Security”, I am unable to give details on revealing issues, be rest assured that concerted efforts are being made to ensure that the issue is kept on the front burner until it is brought under control. We are therefore calling on government at all levels to rise to the occasion. It is shocking that 5 months after the incident, the abducted Bonny five are yet to be released or rescued. We are aware of several efforts being made by high spirited individuals, groups including the Traditional institution.  Just to add, there was another incident early this year which was recorded within our satellite communities where two of our sons were brutally murdered on their way back from the New Year festivities. These attacks have become too regular. Government needs to be alive to its responsibilities. Those whose primary responsibility it is to provide security, is the government whether at the federal, state or local level. At the local level, we are aware that the traditional institution is doing a lot, but there is need for synergy between the traditional institution and the local government authority that has the force of state and mechanisms to deploy in order to ensure that security threats are nipped in the bud.

Okay. So, talking about security being the responsibility of the government, the last security breach in Bonny, from our findings, we discovered that it was actually the youths of Bonny who rose to the occasion. There was clear evidence of late response from the security agencies. The onslaught to dislodge the attackers who had already succeeded in kidnapping two people and were in the process of getting the third person, it was the youths who actually ended up driving them out before the security agencies later started making some inputs. Then the Minister of Defence was saying on National TV recently that Nigerians should defend themselves. In Bonny, we have Okoloma Ikpangi, which has expressed its willingness to defend the community if engaged by the leaders of the community, just like we witnessed the mobilization of youths in the last incident. Does the Bonny Gentlemen’s League buy into this clamour for homegrown solutions to security challenges?

Yes, the League really aligns with such thoughts. In fact, if you see our citation No. 19 of peace and communique, we have called on the Bonny Local Government Council to come up with necessary legislation for the establishment of Bonny Island Security Network to compliment the efforts of the security agencies in community policing and collaborate in tackling the security threats on the Island and its environs. This is to show you that the Bonny Gentlemen’s League is fully in line with such plans, and you know that because security has various levels and various parameters we, the indigenes, the youths, and so on, we all have a key role to play. But you see, one thing is obvious, for instance, the traditional council set up a security committee, there’s a Bonny (Kingdom) Security Committee set up by the Amanyanabo-in-Council, but the committee has its limitations, because there’s no government buy-in; that is why we have also called on the Bonny Local Government Council should synergize with the traditional institution and critical stakeholders including security agencies, titled citizens, IOCS, corporate organizations, the youths, everybody for an all-inclusive proactive and preventive security on the Island. There must be synergy between the local government and the traditional institution and all other bodies so as to have a collaborative front to tackle security issues because there are certain things. Just like you said, you mentioned what the Minister of Defense said, yes every town or village ideally; even when we were growing up, there were levels of security as youths and so on, different bodies that always had their roles to play. So, that they could form an advance information gathering system or something to alert key agencies that will come in with their various platforms to be able to ward off all this problems or make sure that the people who are involved in the insecurity on Island, to make sure that they are arrested and put out of the way.

Away from security issues, in your point 6, you called on the NDDC, to re-award the contract for the abandoned Bonny Ring Road. Now we have heard from the grapevine, on the street, a lot of people are of the opinion that the Bonny-Bodo Road may eventually not be of much use to Bonny Kingdom, as a whole, if the Bonny Ring Road is not in place because like you said earlier, the dispersal of Bonny people into their local communities can be fast-tracked if this Ring Road is in place. Now, beyond your call, is there, like you said, some background actions being taken to force the hand of the NDDC to make this happen?

BGL has been in touch with NDDC over this matter. Like I rightly mentioned, we do a lot of work behind the scenes. We are still putting pressure to see this project returned to the budget, awarded to a competent contractor, so it can be diligently embarked upon. It is a very key project because it is supposed to link our satellite communities. When roads are built, room is created for development. While the Bonny-Bodo road is coming to connect the main town to other parts of the State, going by the influx of people to the main town; it would be more suitable to have the Bonny Ring Road in place, so most persons can begin to function from the satellite towns. The League is working towards this and will continue to bring pressure to bear on NDDC until the project is actualized.

Speaking of the NLNG Train 7 project, does the BGL think that Bonny Community is being marginalized in the ongoing Pre-Train 7 overseas training?

Oftentimes, the challenge with the NLNG is that they carry out their programmes without proper community engagement. So, we try to get them to revisit such programmes to accommodate the community. NLNG is yet to come open on the status of the overseas training; but we are informed that just a few indigenes made the list and that is unacceptable.  They must engage more indigenes to raise the required workforce for the upcoming jobs in Train 7; unlike Trains 1-6 where we were told we did not have the required manpower.

How does the league propose increasing power generation by NLNG and SPDC for the community, with the proposed Ring Road, how would the satellite communities receive power? Would it be profitable to be connected to the National grid notwithstanding the epileptic challenges in the power sector?

BGL has called on NLNG and SPDC to make plans towards increasing power generation for the community. In recent times, Bonny Utility Company (BUC) operates “load shedding” due to insufficient power generated for distribution to the entire community. There is an influx to Bonny, with the Trains-7 project and Bonny-Bodo road, more people would come in. This is better addressed ahead of time. What Bonny community would likely push for, is also to be linked up the National grid if the opportunity presents itself, while having the private generation by NLNG and SPDC as a backup whenever the National grid fails. In any case, we would have the two options.

What is BGL pointing to the security agencies and government with respect to security when the Bonny-Bodo road is completed, given alternatives of land and sea travel, such that entry and exit routes, as well as the community itself are secure maximally always?

When the ongoing Security threats are tackled convincingly, and the road comes into operation, all threats would have been reduced considerably. This calls for proactive measures to be initiated by the Security agencies, making sure all threats are neutralized and tackled from all angles. The Kalabari area had similar challenges when they had their road constructed newly but overtime, measures have been put in place to forestall such occurrence. This brings us to our plea to the Rivers State Government to build a befitting landing jetty at the Bonny Coal Beach. Our lives as Bonny people has been that of Maritime, the advent of the road would not totally rule out travel by sea. The proposed Bonny Deep Seaport project when completed and fully operational would also expand maritime operations in Bonny Island and this further strengthens our case for security both on land and sea.

Having called on the Rivers State Government to provide Security agencies with logistics support, including gunboats whereas similar donations were made in the past, though not in use on the Bonny-Port Harcourt waterways. How does the League propose these issues be addressed?

The Maritime Security environment is more challenging, compared to security on land. It is true that the Rivers State Government donated gunboats to the security agencies, Nigerian Navy precisely but there was the problem of linkage. BGL advocates that subsequent donation of assets including gunboats by the State government should be clearly designated and dedicated exclusively for the Bonny waterways. The State Government should have involved the Local Government and Traditional Council when handing over to the Navy for better coordination, but this was not so.  The Navy as a federal agency is at liberty to deploy the assets as it deems fit based on its own threat assessment. This dovetails our call for the establishment of “Bonny Island Security Network (BISEN) through legislation either by an executive bill from the Council or by the Bonny Legislative Assembly as it is within their jurisdiction. The local government is a complete third tier of government and should function accordingly.

What assurance is BGL giving Bonny community, the Local Government, the Ibani Nation about pursuing the objectives, goals and issues that affect Bonny community positively?

Evidences abound that gives assurances of the commitment of the League to the positive advancement of Bonny Kingdom. BGL played a key role in the creation of Bonny Local Government Council; influenced the Bonny-Bodo Road project by writing to and sending delegations to government functionaries; we also wrote to the Federal Government that NLNG be allowed to fully undertake the Bonny-Bodo road project and for government to grant NLNG tax rebate over some years for the feat which is being implemented. BGL also wrote several letters to the Governor of Rivers State on the deplorable sate of Bonny National Grammar School and mobilized the Ministry of Education officials to Bonny which prompted the award of contract for its remodeling by the Rivers State Government. The League has been on for 40 years and has played active roles. We shall continue to drive partnerships to promote development in the Kingdom.

BGL had been awarding scholarships to deserving sons and daughters to aid their academic pursuit. During the outbreak of the pandemic last year, the League monetized her palliative and distributed amongst the vulnerable members of the community. This was achieved through synergy with the 35 Chieftaincy Houses. We had sponsored the printing of Ibani language booklet to aid the teaching of our mother tongue in the schools. We cannot end this interview without appreciating the youths of Bonny Kingdom for organizing peaceful protests in the heat of these attacks on Sea and land, both in Bonny and Port Harcourt. We wish to use this medium to notify them of our support always; all hands must be on deck to ensure an enduring peace and security on the Island and environs.

What is the level of cooperation from NLNG with regards to engagement of contracts under the community content which is protected by the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD). Also, In Finima community, the Brown House speaking on her behalf and the entire Finima community insist that they are the host community, exclusive of Bonny Kingdom and seek IOCs engagement with them as such. How do you view these scenarios in the context of engaging NLNG on compliance with local content in view of the said project?

I am a member of the Bonny Kingdom Local Content Compliance Committee (BKLCCC), I can inform you that speculations about NLNG compelling the committee to bring in outsiders to undertake local contracts is false. By law, 30% of business opportunities for Oil and Gas projects are reserved for the community and that is being pursued to the letter. Indigenous contractors would benefit maximally from the business opportunities arising from the Train 7 and beyond. About the agitations from the Brown House in Finima, my position is this: there is only one Bonny Kingdom Local Content Compliance Committee (BKLCCC) and His Majesty, King Edward Asimini William Dappa Pepple III, CON, JP, Perekule XI, in his wisdom has made concerted efforts to bring in indigenes from various houses to serve on the committee and this committee is the single focal point for the NLNG Train 7 project. However, these agitations cannot be ruled out when a project of this magnitude comes on stream, be rest assured that all avenues would be exploited in the best interest of Bonny.