Kunle Adelabu
The Council Leader, Ikorodu West Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Hon. Enitan Jessica Oba, has charged the management of the Nigeria Port Authority (NPA), Ikorodu Lighter Terminal located in lpakodo and Ebte – Iga communities in lkorodu West Local Council Development Area (LCDA), on the need to be responsive and discharge its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to its host communities and its people, whenever the need arises.
Hon. Jessica Oba, who is representing the Ipakodo Ward A in the Ikorodu West LCDA Legislative Arm, made the appeal in view of the NPA’s lack of support for the development of lpakodo and Ebute – Iga communities despite that contacts and requests were made in this regard.
The number one legislator in the council, who is worried about the situation, gave the charge in an interview with THE IMPACT.
“The port authority has not really been responsive to us. That is just the truth. We have reached out to them and they have made it clear to us that they are not ready for any CSR at the moment. I have actually met them on two different occasions. I hope that they would still be able to make a deliberate contribution to the development of the community, and we are here to tell them what our people need and would really appreciate,” Hon. Jessica Oba said.
The young female Council Leader, charging the NPA on the need to make its presence felt by the residents of Ipakodo, further said: “NPA is a national parastatal that is big enough to do a solid community project, and there are so many things that they can do within our community. At the moment, the World Bank is helping us in renovating the only health centre in Ipakodo and some other wards within Ikorodu West LCDA.
“These are things that we expect NPA can also do for us. Also, the Clean Cooking Initiative is also a fantastic idea, because it is about the distribution of cooking gas to people to make use of them in their homes. These will be given to the families that need them; those that are still cooking using local sources like firewood and the rest”.
Other areas highlighted by Hon. Jessica Oba for the NPA to assist lpakodo community and its people, are training of the youths and employment.
“There are so many initiatives that the NPA can do for us. They can even employ or train the youths in our community on what they do. They can employ our youths and train them. This is how they can make direct impacts on the community.
“We can also partner them in training the youths in Artificial Intelligence technology, marine engineering and others. The focus now is on the youth between 18 to 40 years, and there are so many things that they can engage with ”, she said.
