COMMUNIQUE ISSUED BY BONNY GENTLEMENS LEAGUE AT THE END OF HER 45TH ANNUAL CONVENTION/ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (AGM) HELD IN BONNY ON SUNDAY 22 DECEMBER 2024.

PREAMBLE:

Bonny Gentlemen’s League herein-after referred to as the “The League” is a frontline socio-cultural organization of distinguished gentlemen of Bonny, of diverse professions and vocations, committed to the sustainable human, economic and physical development of Bonny Local Government Area. The League as a community based Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) is committed to robust advocacy for public policy and good governance, and to leverage on partnerships towards the achievement of definitive goals for accelerated development at the grassroots level.

As a tradition, The League holds its Conventions/Annual General Meetings in December every year and uses the opportunity to reflect on issues and events in the out-going year in Bonny Local Government Area in particular, Rivers State and the Nation at large, which impact on the livelihoods of the average Bonny man and the Kingdom.

Pursuant to this tradition, the League held her 45th Convention/3rd AGM on Sunday 22nd December 2024 at the end of which the League resolved as follows:

RESOLUTIONS:

1. The League paid glowing tribute to His Majesty, King Edward Asimini William Dappa Pepple III, Edward I, CON, DSSRS, Perekule XI, Amanyanabo and Natural Ruler of Grand Bonny Kingdom. It commended His Majesty for his sterling leadership, which resulted in the relative peaceful trend in recent years within Bonny and its environs. The current upsurge in migration to Bonny and consequential growth in industrial and commercial activities can be attributed to the safe, hospitable and accommodating nature of the kingdom which the Amanyanabo-in-Council, the Bonny Local Government Council, the Security Agencies and Bonny Indigenous Communities/residents have laboured to build over the years.

• The League congratulated the Executive Governor of Rivers State, His Excellency, Amaopusenibo (Sir) Siminalayi Joseph Fubara, GSSRS, and passed a vote of confidence in him for the giant strides made in governance of Rivers State in the face of distractions since his accension to power in 2023. The League therefore pledges its unalloyed support for His Excellency and called on the good people of Rivers State to remain vigilant and resolute in solidarity with the administration of His Excellency, to take Rivers State to the next level.  

• The League drew the attention of the Executive Governor of Rivers State to the abject neglect of Bonny Local Government Area since the inception of civilian administration in 1999. The league notes with regret that no Rivers State Governor has flagged-off or commissioned any State Government project in the entire Bonny Local Area for the past 25 years despite the huge contributions of Bonny Local Government to the State’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). The League therefore implored the Governor to preferentially and speedily award some legacy projects that will be flagged-off, Completed and Commissioned by His Excellency, The Executive Governor of Rivers State before the expiration of his first tenure in 2027. Projects requiring immediate action include:
• Bonny Ring Road Project to link up Bonny Communities in the Eastern flank of Bonny with Bonny mainland. This project was presented to the State Government and OMPADEC/NDDC by the Bonny Community in 1993.
• Bonny Internal Roads
• Upgrade of Bonny National Grammar School and Government Girls Secondary School, Finima – Bonny; and
• Peterside/Fibiri/Kalaibiama/Kuruma Road in the Western flank of Bonny Island to link the State capital (Port Harcourt) through the Trans Kalabari Road.

• The League congratulated the Executive Chairman, Bonny Local Government, Hon. Dame Mrs. Anengi Claude-Wilcox for navigating through the political landmines in 2024 and successfully emerging as a second term elected Chairman of Bonny Local Government Council. The League notes that to whom much is given, much is also expected, accordingly, the League is of the view that Bonny Local Government led by her should focus on the delivery of very impactful projects such as the following and drive development within Bonny Local Government Area.

1. Development of New Bonny Town: Hon. Executive Chairman along with the LG legislative Council should leverage on the Bonny Local Government Council’s current harmonious relationship with Bonny Traditional Institution and immediately acquire a minimum of 1000 hectares of land within Bonny LG for development of a New Bonny Town. The Council should independently engage the services of Town/City Planning and Urban Development Experts to advise the Council’ and develop Industrial, Commercial and Residential layouts in the New Bonny Town.  

Bonny town as it is today, is overpopulated, poorly planned and developing in a rudderless manner. A new Bonny town will relieve the Bonny urban area of population pressure and enable the ‘Council’ to enhance its capacity and gradually introduce/enforce building guidelines and codes in Bonny.  

The new Bonny Town will also provide an avenue for permanent revenue for Bonny Local Government and Bonny Traditional Institution.

• Creation of Employment and Empowerment Schemes: Studies suggests that the rate of unemployment in Bonny Local Government Area is at 45%. The situation may get worse with the conclusion of NLNG Train 7 project when construction staff will be laid off and the completion of Bonny-Bodo road which will render over 80% of marine transportation workers redundant. The League is of the view that Hon. Executive Chairman, Bonny Local Government should set in motion the process of re-directing the currently unemployed and expected NLNG Train 7 and Marine transportation redundant staff to Agriculture (Fishing and Farming) and Entrepreneurship through direct intervention by way of planned enlightenment programs and provision of fishing and farming tools.

The Bonny Local Government Council should immediately team up with the traditional institution and assist with acquiring land in various Bonny Communities and make them accessible for agriculture.

• Primary Healthcare: Primary Healthcare is a direct responsibility of Local Government administration. Most of the Primary Healthcare Centers in Bonny Local Government area lack the required personnel and equipment to make them functional. The league is of the view that the Bonny Local Government administration should prioritize deployment of relevant personnel and equipment to the health centers at Oloma, Peterside, Dema-Abbey, Banigo and Greens-Iwoama.  

• Primary Education: Primary Education is also a direct responsibility of Local Government administration. Most primary School buildings in Bonny Local Government are currently in a state of disrepair. The league calls on the Local Government Chairman to work closely with the Rivers State Government and revamp all primary schools in the LGA. Most importantly, the Central Primary School directly opposite Bonny Divisional Police Station should be re-opened. All issues that led to its closure for the past 15 years should be addressed and resolved by the Local Government administration. 

• Internal Transportation: The League called on the Bonny Local Government Administration to strengthen private commercial bus and taxi operators in Bonny and prohibit use of motorcycles as a means of Commercial transportation. Due to security and safety concerns, all major urban centers in Nigeria have banned the use of motorcycles for commnercial transportation. Bonny should not be an exception.

• The League complimented the Federal Government and NLNG for the ongoing Train 7 Project, but expressed serious displeasure at the reported cases of non-compliance/poor implementation of community content concerns by the Project Contractor, SCD-N. The League reiterated its demand for the Consortium, SCD-JV to adhere strictly to the provisions of the Local Content Act, the NCDMB Community Guideline and the Project Memorandum of Understanding (PMOU) executed with the Bonny Kingdom Local Content Compliance Committee (BKLCCC); and ensure the actualization of community content deliverables in jobs and business opportunities amongst others, to Bonny Community vendors in order to avoid restiveness and industrial crisis and enhance seamless project execution and delivery.

• The League called on the NLNG/Train 7 Project Consortium to speedily commence the execution of the Community Development Projects earmarked under the Community Social Responsibility (CSR) projects for the on-going Train 7 Project in Bonny Kingdom; the projects include:

a. Expansion of Bonny major road from Shell Gate to Coal Beach with spur from Amaomu Junction to Perekule Palace,

b. A Sports Academy with 5,000 (Five Thousand) persons capacity stadium, hostel, clinic, and other training and social facilities,

c. Link Road from Workers Camp to Simidia Junction on Abalamabie Road, and

d. Vehicular Terminal along the Bonny axis of the Bonny-Bodo Road.

The League notes that road expansion and vehicular terminal construction are projects that should be concluded to ease internal traffic flow within Bonny before the commissioning of the Bonny-Bodo Road. Further delays of the Train 7 CSR projects will have negative effect on vehicular movements in Bonny.

• The League lauded the NLNG/Train 7 consortium for the reconstruction of Bonny – Finima Road; but condemned the non-expansion of the road from its original size; and, therefore, called for further expansion of the road to accommodate the impending explosion of vehicular traffic along the road after the completion of Bonny-Bodo Road.

• The League commended the Federal Government, NLNG and Julius Berger for the progress of work at the ongoing Bonny-Bodo Road project, and called on Julius Berger to keep faith with the August 2025 project completion timeline.

• The League expressed serious concerns about the increasing frequency of power outages on the Island, and called on the JICs and BUC to speedily upgrade the electricity generation and distribution capacity respectively, to improve the current debilitating situation of power supply to consumers on the Island.

1. The League called on the Federal Government to immediately establish a Federal Medical Center (FMC) in Bonny. It recalled that the Bill for establishment of Federal Medical Center in Bonny was presented by Hon. Farah Dagogo, who represented Degema/Bonny Federal Constituency from 2019-2023 in the House of Representatives.  The Bill was passed by the National Assembly in 2023 but was not signed into an Act by the President. The League therefore lauded the member representing Degema/Bonny Federal constituency in the National Assembly Hon. Cyril Hart on his efforts towards reactivating the process for the establishment of the FMC and urged him to follow up on the FMC Bill and ensure both presidential assent and inclusion in the National Budget. In addition, the League requested the Bonny Local Government Chairman to proactively work with Bonny Traditional Institution and map out/designate an area as site for the proposed Federal Medical Center, Bonny.

1. At the end of the 45th Annual Convention/3rd AGM, the League elected the following officers to serve in 2025-2026 Executive Committee.

1. Warisenibo Kalada Dublin-Green, Chancellor
2. Dr. Victor Ibigoni Jumbo, Registrar
3. Dr. Ibituru Pepple, Deputy Registrar
4. Mr. Alexander Wilcox, Director of Finance 
5. Mr. Dellian D. Dappa, Director of Exchequer
6. Sir Tonye Ekong, Director of Publicity 
7. Mr. Fiabema Hailsham, Director of Socials/Welfare
8. Mr. Ethelbert Oko-Jumbo, Chief Whip  
9. Amaopusenibo Olam Allwell-Brown, Ex-Officio