TEJIRI EBIKEME WARRI

Barr. Kingsley Otuaro, Commissioner representing the Ijaw nationality in DESOPADEC cutting the tape to re-commission the once abandoned Okerenkoko Cottage Hospital as Comrade Paul Bebenimibo (Left), Executive Secretary Tompolo Foundation, Comrade Monday Mieyefa, Vice Chairman, Okerenkoko Federated Communities and others look on.

THE joy of the people of over 12 riverine oil producing communities of Okerenkoko in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State knew no bounds recently with the renovation and re-commissioning of the only hospital serving them by Tompolo Foundation, four years after it was destroyed by operatives of the Joint Task Force (JTF) during militancy era.

It was learnt that the Okerenkoko hospital was built by the Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in 2008 and handed over to Delta State Oil Producing Development Commission (DESOPADEC) on January 15 of that year to manage but was later destroyed by the military combating the Niger Delta militants then.

But Tompolo Foundation, founded five months ago by the former militant leader and Head of Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), Chief Government Ekpomukpolo, took up the gauntlet and renovated the hospital with state of the art equipment and drugs including its staffing.

The commissioner representing the Ijaw in DESOPADEC, Mr. Kingsley Otuaro assured at the commissioning ceremony that negotiations were ongoing at relevant quarters at DESOPADEC and state government levels to ensure that everything necessary was done to rebuild and rehabilitate the structures devastated in the wake of the military 2009 invasion.

He was full of praises for the Foundation for renovating, staffing and furnishing with state-of-the-art medical equipment of the hospital which serves a host of mostly oil-producing communities.

Mr. Otuaro however appealed to individuals and corporate organizations including oil companies “to emulate this wonderful gesture of the Tompolo Foundation, by providing basic facilities in communities since government alone cannot do it all”.

The Executive Secretary of the Tompolo Foundation, Mr. Paul Bebenimibo explained that the objectives of the Foundation focused mainly on education and health stressing that his organisation has been keeping to its vision and mission since the launching of the TPF less than six months ago.

The Medical Director of Tompolo Foundation, Dr Clarkson Agagha, disclosed that the Foundation had over 41 staff for Okerenkoko Hospital , including five doctors and six qualified nurses and midwives and pharmacists.

Speaking on behalf of the communities, the Vice-Chairman of Okerenkoko Federated Communities, Mr. Monday Mieyefa, expressed sadness that the people have been abandoned for so long especially by the state government, despite their immense contribution to the economic mainstay of Delta and Nigeria in general.

He commended the founder of the Foundation, Chief Government Ekpemupolo alias “Tompolo” describing him as “an individual who has taken upon himself the burden of making life meaningful for our teeming population”, accused Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of not keeping his 2011 re-election campaign promise of re-building Okerenkoko community following the JTF invasion.